That's Entertainment, Folks!
Barak Obama’s campaign is in hot water again: the latest dish is that Pastor Donnie McClurkin as part of his staff (he’s a gospel singer and minister) is an ex-gay who characterizes homosexuality as a “curse.” Read about Pastor Donnie here.
Hallelujah! I’m cured!
Gimme a break.
This guy knows what sells as entertainment: anything, including religion.
This is America. Take away our food, shelter and clothing, but don’t ever think of taking away our entertainment! Ann Coulter knows this. People read her books for their entertainment value. Comedy, music, drama – yes, that’s why we stand and stare at crime and accident scenes.
America has made a veritable religion out of entertainment and an entertainment out of religion.
“McClurkin is head pastor at Perfecting Faith Church, a nondenominational Pentecostal church in Freeport, New York. The 1,000-plus congregation meets in a former supermarket. He's home for the services every Sunday unless he's traveling overseas. Services there are exuberant and interactive. Church members are likely to be dancing in the aisles, speaking in tongues or lying on the floor, overcome by the Holy Spirit.”
And someone got saved in aisle five right by the canned beets. And what is a “nondenominational Pentecostal church?” Can you speak in tongues anywhere? An Episcopal church? A Methodist church? A Bar Mitzvah? When I was an altar boy and we had to race through Latin at the morning Mass (Fr. Duffy was always due to tee off in forty minutes), maybe I was actually seized by the Holy Spirit instead –
Gimme a break.
This guy knows what sells as entertainment: anything, including religion.
This is America. Take away our food, shelter and clothing, but don’t ever think of taking away our entertainment! Ann Coulter knows this. People read her books for their entertainment value. Comedy, music, drama – yes, that’s why we stand and stare at crime and accident scenes.
America has made a veritable religion out of entertainment and an entertainment out of religion.
“McClurkin is head pastor at Perfecting Faith Church, a nondenominational Pentecostal church in Freeport, New York. The 1,000-plus congregation meets in a former supermarket. He's home for the services every Sunday unless he's traveling overseas. Services there are exuberant and interactive. Church members are likely to be dancing in the aisles, speaking in tongues or lying on the floor, overcome by the Holy Spirit.”
And someone got saved in aisle five right by the canned beets. And what is a “nondenominational Pentecostal church?” Can you speak in tongues anywhere? An Episcopal church? A Methodist church? A Bar Mitzvah? When I was an altar boy and we had to race through Latin at the morning Mass (Fr. Duffy was always due to tee off in forty minutes), maybe I was actually seized by the Holy Spirit instead –
“Adeumquilaetificatuventutemeumquarererepulistiquaresintristitincedodumaflegitmeainemicus”
(Yeah, I still remember it after 53 years.)
My point?
Whether it’s ritual, gospel choirs, or Pat Robertson doing leg presses, today’s religion is imbued with entertainment. It just takes a savvy entertainer to exploit it. An entertainer like Donny McClurkin. Yes, he may have had a horrible childhood and his family may have been beyond dysfunctional, and he may have even "prayed away" leukemia. But I don’t believe he’s a bona fide ex-gay (his bios are oddly amiss when it comes to describing his former “gay” life). “Overcoming” vicissitudes is all part of the show. One more “curse” to give glory to the victor.
Da…da…dat’s all folks!
My point?
Whether it’s ritual, gospel choirs, or Pat Robertson doing leg presses, today’s religion is imbued with entertainment. It just takes a savvy entertainer to exploit it. An entertainer like Donny McClurkin. Yes, he may have had a horrible childhood and his family may have been beyond dysfunctional, and he may have even "prayed away" leukemia. But I don’t believe he’s a bona fide ex-gay (his bios are oddly amiss when it comes to describing his former “gay” life). “Overcoming” vicissitudes is all part of the show. One more “curse” to give glory to the victor.
Da…da…dat’s all folks!
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