A Post On Theatrical Preachers

York, England (1997 PhD tour)


Warwick Castle, England (1995 tour)

A Post On Theatrical Preachers

In the last post on the blog from March titled 'Megachurches (Five Largest in USA)' in comments Chucky, also known as Uncle Chuck due to his sacrificial, humanitarian, 'Father Teresa' family efforts, mentions Marjoe Gortner. I like Gortner as an actor on the A-Team etc. I had not made the connection. But when Saint Chuckles showed me the clips I did.

From:

Postitiveatheism

Marjoe Gortner was the first Evangelical preacher to blow the whistle on his profession. In his documentary film, Marjoe, made in the late sixties, he revealed age-old tricks of the trade and exposed some of the entertainment aspects of the popular movement that have made it big business.'

List of scandals involving evangelical Christians

'Gortner rose to fame in the late 1940s as a child preacher, but he had simply been trained to do this by his parents and he had no personal faith. He was able to perform "miracles" and received large amounts of money in donations. After suffering a crisis of conscience, he invited a film crew to accompany him on a final preaching tour. The resulting film, Marjoe, mixes footage of revival meetings with Gortner's explanations of how evangelists manipulate their audiences. It won the 1972 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, but was not shown widely in the Southern United States due to fears that it would cause outrage in the Bible Belt.[1]' Wikipedia states: 'References for this section can be found in the main article on Marjoe Gortner and the film Marjoe.'


A replacement video:

To me, since a young Christian I have found this type of preaching over theatrical, overproduced, and I doubt the overall sincerity. I cannot state of course for sure whether someone that preaches that way would be a Christian or not, but red flags would be raised in my mind. It was noted that he had no personal faith while doing ministry.



Aimee Semple McPherson was also likely in the minds of some, including me, overly theatrical and overproduced and if one looks up her life she had a quite controversial life of ministry. She is also on the Wikipedia list of scandals. She was the founder of the Foursquare Church but red flags would be raised in my mind. But I leave the judging of believers up to God (2 Corinthians 5: 10). The church is certainly Christian.

Foursquare

The first citation notes that the whistle was blown on the profession, but the New Testament itself understood and documented the concept of false teachers with both doctrine and motivation.

Browning describes those that would commit false doctrine and theological error, in the later stages of the early Church as committing, heresy. Browning (1997: 168). S. W. Sykes notes that heresy is when one denies a doctrine of the faith having been formally been given by the Church. Sykes (1999: 249). Sykes points out that a formal heresy would be a persistent and therefore consistent belief in incorrect teaching, relative to formal Church teaching. Sykes (1999: 249).

2 Timothy 3 is a Chapter in the New Testament where false teachers are presented from the NASB and in verse 7 certain men are described as those that are always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. The men promised deeper knowledge. Nute (1986: 1489). Alan G. Nute states ' They are men of depraved minds and counterfeit faith'. Nute (1986: 1489). In Nute's opinion the text appears to be describing not only teachers of heresy but also teachers of bad motives that were non-Christians.

Verse 7:

7 πάντοτε μανθάνοντα καὶ μηδέποτε εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν δυνάμενα.
always learning and never to full knowledge of truth to come being able.

ἀληθείας (of truth)

Greek scholar Bauer notes in 3: 7 the word is in the context of Christianity as an absolute truth. Bauer (1979: 35). So, the knowledge of Christianity would not be grasped by such men it appears.

Thoughts

False teachers existed in the New Testament and were exposed as heretical and with evil motives. They would of course exist today within the Church, and outside of the Church and where some may not be sure which is which, like the cults and with religions that are similar to Christianity. It is also possible some Christians may teach the gospel message but with less than admirable motives. However, even with the various theological differences within the Church, and the many differences I would have with many Christian Reverends of other denominations, I have not seen any conclusive evidence that would indicate that the majority of Christian Reverends would have questionable motives in serving Christ.

Certainly not in the context of the 'phony preacher', but there is the issue of the radical liberal church today which many Christian conservatives will rightly mention. I would state that those that deny the Biblical gospel are outside of Christ. But, even with my fairly dogmatic Reformed views I still hold to basic Biblical doctrines such as Romans 10: 9 NASB

^{9 [a]}that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; ¹⁰ for with the heart a person believes, ^[b]resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, ^[c]resulting in salvation.

Basically, I do not think that a Christian has to have near perfect theology (be Reformed or like) to be saved.

BAUER, WALTER. (1979) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Translated by Eric H. Wahlstrom, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press.

BROWNING, W.R.F. (1997) Dictionary of the Bible, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

MARSHALL, ALFRED (1975)(1996) The Interlinear KJV-NIV, Grand Rapids, Zondervan.

NUTE, Alan G. (1986) '2 Timothy' in The International Bible Commentary, Grand Rapids, Zondervan.

SYKES, S. W. (1999) ‘Heresy’, in Alan Richardson and John Bowden (eds.), New Dictionary of Christian Theology, Kent, SCM Press Ltd.



Imagine That

Huffpost Celebrity Canada

'Alec Baldwin 54 engaged to girlfriend 28'

April 13, 2012

My cell phone rings: ‘Is this the owner of this cell phone?’ (Telus calling for the third straight day).

I answer ‘You know (within reason of course) the answer to that question.’ Telus: ‘Is this Russ Murray?’

My phone is with Telus. They want me to switch my internet as well. I am not interested.

Perhaps they will finally give up.


Lake Kenyir, Terengganu, Malaysia, (Google Images)

Megachurches (Five Largest in USA)

Houston, Texas (trekearth.com)

Introduction

With a PhD in Theology and Philosophy of Religion from Wales academia is not my only option for potential employment using my four academic degrees earned over the years. Lately I have been considering church work as it has been suggested to me. I reason I have been led to be a Theologian, Biblical Scholar, and in later years a Philosopher of Religion and the eventual work as an Assistant or Associate Professor was just assumed by myself and many others. Of the three figures of CVs I have sent out they have not all been in academia, but have also included publishing and media. I never reasoned I was specifically led to be a professor, necessarily. Now I realize churches probably are not looking for Philosophers of Religion but Theologians and Biblical Scholars, yes. So 2/3 is not bad...

Megachurches Definition

So, what about megachurches?

Hartford Institute for Religion Research

According to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research

'Megachurch Definition

The term megachurch generally refers to any Protestant congregation... with a sustained average weekly attendance of 2000 persons or more in its worship services.

Most discussions of megachurches focus on very large Protestant Christian congregations in the United States - of which there are over 1200.

Likewise, there are significant numbers of megachurches throughout the world, especially in Korea, Brazil, and several African countries, although no exact count exists for this worldwide phenomenon. The largest megachurch in America averages 35,000 in attendance; however, several churches in Korea claim over 250,000 attenders.

Although very large congregations have existed throughout Christian history, there has been a rapid proliferation of churches with massive attendance since the decade of the 1970's. As such, some researchers suggest that this church form is a unique collective response to distinctive cultural shifts and changes in societal patterns throughout the industrialized, urban and suburban areas of the world.

While size is the most immediately apparent characteristic of these congregations, the Protestant megachurches in the United States generally share many other traits. Virtually all these megachurches have a conservative theology, even those within mainline denominations. A large number are nondenominational but the majority are affiliated with a denomination. The groups in the table below account for 80% of all megachurches.'

'The majority of megachurches (over sixty percent) are located in the southern Sunbelt of the United States - with California, Texas, Georgia and Florida having the highest concentrations.'

Largest Five Churches in USA from Two Sources

From:

Sermon Central

1. Lakewood Church, Houston, Texas: Pastor Joel Osteen-Attendance 43, 500
2. Second Baptist Church, Houston, Texas: Pastor Ed Young-Attendance 22, 659
3. North Point Community Church, Alpharetta, Georgia: Pastor Andy Stanley-Attendance 22, 557
4. Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, Illinois: Pastor Bill Hybels-Attendance 22, 500
5. LifeChurch.tv, Edmond, Oklahoma: Pastor Craig Groeschel-Attendance 20, 823

Forbes

1. Lakewood Church, Houston Texas, Pastor Joel Osteen, Attendance 43, 500, Annual Budget $70 Million
2. Second Baptist Church of Houston, Pastor Edwin Young, Attendance 24, 000, Annual Budget $53 Million
3. North Point Community Church, Pastor Andy Stanley, Attendance 23, 000, Annual Budget $38. 5 Million
4. Willow Creek Community Church, Pastor Bill Hybels, Attendance 22, 500, Annual Budget $36. 2 Million
5. LifeChurch.tv, Pastor Craig Groeschel, Attendance 21, 000, Annual Budget $32 Million


Houston, Texas (trekearth.com)


Caddo Lake, Texas (Google Images)


Alex Fraser Bridge, Richmond/New Westminster, BC (trekearth.com)


Conwy Castle, Wales 2001

Thoughts

A former professor/mentor of mine suggested I look at potential employment via megachurches with obviously more possible work being available being in the United States than much smaller and less Christianized, Canada. Pastor Joel Osteen's theological inadequacies have been well-documented by those such as Dr. Albert Mohler and I am sure throughout the blogosphere, but that is just one let us state, questionable, example of a megachurch. Perhaps some churches with over 2000 (or somewhat less) attendees will have a need for Biblical Studies and Theology programs at a BA level and someone of my credentials could be considered a very useful potential employee.

Of course there are many issues to discuss potentially in comments in regard to a megachurch possibly not meeting the needs of attenders and members when a large church becomes too large and corporate. And there are also many things a larger church can accomplish with more revenue in comparison to a smaller church.


Lego megachurch (Google Images)






Cartoons from Google Images.


Thanks to my friend Mark for a post on Facebook...
Of course Benny has been on this blog previously. Here is a reprise below.

The Christian and The Martial Arts

Yuanyang, China (trekearth.com) 

February 25, 2012 

I started at Karate-Kung Fu at a paid club at age of seventeen but after two years realized that Kata and much of what was being taught was not much practical good to me in the context of self-defence, a street fight, or against weapons. I was never interested at all in any of the spiritual aspects of the martial arts, so any hyper-fundamentalist at this point can take a chill pill. As well the club I joined divorced this from its practices. 

So, having been provided some basic knowledge, I quit classes after two years and spent years with martial arts bag work and sparred with a few friends over the years to develop my skills. I did significantly improve. I also read on the martial arts and bought videos. I studied off of the internet. I realized that to avoid weapons defence training as an aspect of self-defence was unwise and so I trained with mock knives as part of sparring. In fact a friend was stabbed with a stick in the hand on one occasion... A minor wound. He told me this training may have saved him in a knife incident at work years later. There was evidence that I was improving over the years. 

In Greater Manchester (1999-2001) in the beginning of my PhD studies I was burgled twice and I got myself out of a couple of potential fights by standing up to hoodlums, which are quite common in Northern England, sad to state. The first time I was burgled I was back home in BC, Canada for Christmas and all my electronic equipment was stolen. The second time, I wisely stored everything with a friend, accept for a couple things I forgot. At the location I was burgled the second time and where I lived where I was attacked, which I shall describe shortly, a neighbour was actually murdered. Apparently a person or person tied this man to a chair, beat him to death, took nothing and left the door of his flat wide open for all to see. 

The rumour was that this man had been having affairs with underage girls which would be easy to believe from all the teen mothers that could be viewed in the area, but the grocers that knew the man stated he was clean and that the murder was for another reason, perhaps random reason. Anyway, Uncle Chuck and I were in Downtown Manchester, Decemeber 2000 and were attacked by three men that I later realized were part of a pack of approximately thirty men, some were drunk. I ended up fighting three and was winning the fights on points but due to my conservative approach, because I did not want to get stabbed by turning my back on one of them (assuming they could have knives or screwdrivers), did not go in harder to knock one of them out or at that time have the knowledge I do now concerning choking them out, or was as used to throwing someone to the ground as I would be now, and therefore in frustration to save face one of them called me a an 'f' er' and threw a bottle at me from a distance (as I had clocked him with a severe round house kick and punches and he had left) and it hit me in the nose breaking it and two of my front teeth. 

This actually made my sleep apnea go from two stage (born with) to three stage. Thankfully this is quite a bit better with treatment and will never be that bad again. The lessons. The Karate/Kung Fu class only served me with basics. The bag work only served me with the basics. The best and more advanced martial arts work I have done is to take the basic physics of punching, kicking, choking, holds, and basic take downs, and to apply them to street fighting offence and defence, including weapons. This was done in the context of sparring as well. I would also strongly suggest that persons arm themselves within the rules of the law. I won the fights in Manchester on points, but I should have fought more offensively and attempted to take the three guys out and perhaps I would not have been bottled. But, even then I still could have faced thirty more men. 

Sometimes the use of a weapon or weapons, within the rules of the law is the best answer for a reasonable chance of survival. I realize I have a fair amount of female readers and Blogger has mainly female members, and I would advise females to learn self-defence, and martial arts and to also arm themselves within the limits of the law. I am not sure if Art Martial has anything to do with this post.

My photo 1: These are the metal clubs I use at home to practice with and I also use these during sparring sessions. I also use a metal baseball bat, wood club and purchased legally a Swiss Army Knife that is used with the blade retracted for sparring purposes. 

My photo 2: Uncle Chuck

My photo 3: Zombie with a six pack...

  

The Problem of Evil...Computer Viruses

Moscow (trekearth.com)

January 27, 2012

A. Rootkit Zero Access Viruses

According to Dedicated 2-viruses at

2 Viruses

'ZeroAccess rootkit, also known as Max++, is a nasty piece of malware which is designed to start its persistent campaign just after infiltration. The infiltration of this malware is quite simple and done through security holes together with infected downloads, often Adobe Reader or Java fake updates. It can be said that additional purpose of ZeroAccess rootkit is to set up a stealthy, undetectable and un-removable platform which should help to download malware into the target PC. As you can see, it’s a rootkit which is advanced and sophisticated.'

According to CleanPCGuide.com at

CleanPCGuide

'ZeroAccess rootkit is a malicious trojan horse or bot that may represent security risk for the compromised system and/or its network environment. ZeroAccess rootkit injects rootkit components into Windows processes to avoid detection. It as been also noticed to be used for stealing online banking accounts, disabling some of Windows components, such as User Account Control or others and delivering fake Antivirus applications that should swindle the money from trustful PC users for removal services of malware programs detected by fake antivirus. ZeroAccess rootkit poses a dangerous threat to any computer or system and should be terminated immediately.'

How my computer contracted Rootkit Zero Access Viruses


'Golly, no we got hit by a virus on YouTube, I never heard of that before'.

Former natural body-builder and competitor from East Maple Ridge.

My good friend and frequent blog (s) commenter Bobby Buff/Walter Thomas Franklin very kindly decided he would once again look to YouTube for some theological material in which to comment on my blogs. A couple of weeks earlier he had visited me here in the loft and was on YouTube 'fail' videos which somehow contracted to my computer a fake XP virus alert, similar to what my second citation mentions. I ran Combofix at that time and it appeared to find and delete all traces of Rootkit Zero Access.

However, a couple of weeks later a second time my friend was hit with the viruses, and even though Comboxfix and Kaspersky were both able to find the viruses and delete them, XP would only start in the last known mode that worked and this seemingly guaranteed that the viruses would continue to exist. I also ran SuperAntispyware and Malware Bytes Anti-Malware which deleted some of the viruses 'apparently'. Every other product I tried online either would not load or could not find the viruses sufficiently.

To be blunt, there were some software fails here! I had as the virus name states zero internet access thanks to the series of viruses, and no real ability to fix the problem. With my Mom in the hospital I went to the downstairs part of the condo and used her computer and looked for whatever help I could online.

So, after speaking with professionals and enlightened amateurs my only reasonable option was to reformat XP. I figured a new operating system would be a larger headache with my era of computer unless I just go and buy a new laptop and pass this desktop on to my disabled Mother, which I will likely eventually do. Of course there was 50 hours of work involved and that is not including reloading all my iTunes which still is not completely done, but now I have wisely backed up my key progressive rock, jazz-fusion, art rock and classical discs for 'next time' if evil strikes.


Krym Alupa, Ukraine (trekearth.com)


Lake of Solonets, Oster, Ukraine (trekearth.com)

B. Babylon Toolbar

According to eHow at

eHow

'Babylon is a translation software program that offers one-click translation and dictionary access.'

'Babylon comes with a toolbar that integrates itself with the toolbars in Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Toolbar. Users report that, even after they have uninstalled the Babylon program, this toolbar remains and slows the operation of the computer.'

From Spybot

Spybot

'Babylon Toolbar is a useless toolbar that gets installed by other software, for instance FoxTab Videoconverter. Legal age for installation is 18 while this fact is only mentioned in the terms. Babylon Toolbar installs itself to the system, the Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome. The Babylon.Toolbar is almost identical to Toolbar.Facemood. Some affiliates like MediGet also install Babylon and the Babylon Toolbar without proper userconsent using a count down timer to start install.'

What I found is that Babylon somehow through my web searches with Google got into both the Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers, defaces them and then basically without one's permission creates not only a Babylon Toolbar but virtually a Babylon browser. Chucky was on Google Chrome for only a few minutes and Babylon hijacked that browser as well. It does not attack Safari at this point. It took Cardinal Chucklins and I around 45 minutes to get rid of Babylon from Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Google Chrome on my computer. I am disappointed to see Microsoft involved with Babylon and as Uncle Chuckles stated that night, Google needs to upgrade their security.

February 20, 2012

From the Mail Online

C. Westboro Baptist Church pretends to picket Whitney Houston funeral by using Photoshopped picture of protest

WBC

Quote:

'The notorious Westboro Baptist Church promised to picket Whitney Houston's funeral, claiming that the star died because she disobeyed God.

On Saturday, the day of the ceremony, church leader Margie Phelps claimed that the protest was 'rocking the house' as she tweeted a picture which appeared to show signs saying 'God hates fags' outside the funeral in New Jersey.

But it now appears that the famously anti-gay church may not have been at the funeral at all - instead, they used Photoshop to make it seem as it they were there.'

'Ms Phelps took to Twitter claiming that the church planned to protest at Ms Houston's funeral at New Hope Baptist Church, saying: 'So many piling up to blather about her today. Not ONE of them warned her of hell.'

From the bit I watched of the funeral, as I am not much of a celebrity viewer, Ms. Houston appeared to have been a Christian believer and so according to Scripture (John 1, John 3, Ephesians 1-3, Romans 8, Romans 10) would not be heading to hell, but heaven/paradise (Luke 23: 43, 2 Corinthians 12: 4, Philippians 1) despite struggles with sin and lack of good works, potentially in Christ (1 Corinthians 3: 10-15, Hebrews 6: 4-8, James 2, 2 Peter 3: 8-13). She apparently at least had a public confession of Christ which reminds one of Romans 10: 13.

To Photoshop the protest and then claim it happened is of course dishonest. This is a breaking of the Ten Commandments, the ninth in Exodus 20: 16 where it states not to give/bear false witness. From the New Testament...

Colossians 3:9-10 (New American Standard Bible)

9 [a]Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old [b]self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being [c]renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—

To protest funerals in the first place is unloving from a Biblical perspective (Matthew 22, Mark 12, John 15) and from what I gather based on very presumptive dangerous theology on the potential everlasting states of the deceased.