Evangelical Healing Or Sanctified Manslaughter? British Deaths Allegedly Result From Nigerian Preacher's Scam.

WILL NIGERIAN SCAMS NEVER STOP?

Before Cortez conquered Mexico, there were over 25 million Meso-Americans living in western North America (from Alta California down to Chile). 100 years later, there were only 1 million Meso-Americans. Many were killed off by the diseases (mostly STDs) unknown to them, many died in slavery, and some died simply because they were considered "heathens" occupying valuable land. In a sense, what Cortez had really brought along from Spain (besides missionaries and soldiers) to the Americas was the plague of Western Civilization. 

In the realm of underdeveloped countries, only Nigeria has ever been able to return the favor: it has unleashed such a plague of scams upon the rest of the world, that it even has a particular scam named after it and the penal code that prohibits it: the Nigerian 419 scam*.  

And now, it's getting back at all those missionaries who told Nigeria it was going to hell for scamming everybody: it's exporting another version of evangelical Christianity.

BBC News, London:

At least three people in London with HIV have died after they stopped taking life saving drugs on the advice of their Evangelical Christian pastors.

The women died after attending churches in London where they were encouraged to stop taking the antiretroviral drugs in the belief that God would heal them, their friends and a leading HIV doctor said.

THE WORLD OF PASTOR T.B. JOSHUA

The "churches" were linked to a Nigerian humanitarian/televangelist, Temitope Joshua, who has dubiously claimed to heal people of HIV/AIDS, cancer, paralysis and a myriad of other illnesses (he also treats dwarfs as well, but I haven't been able to find out how). He also listed (by Forbes) as one the five richest pastors in Nigeria.

FORBES:

God is good, especially if you’re a Nigerian pastor with some business savvy. These days, millions of souls, desperate for financial breakthroughs, miracles and healing, all rush to the church for redemption. And while the bible expressly states that salvation is free, at times it comes with a cost: offerings, tithes, gifts to spiritual leaders, and a directive to buy literature and other products created by men of God.

The Pastor of The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (SCOAN) - yes, that really is its name - Joshua also owns Emanuel TV, a Christian television network, and is close friends with Ghanaian President Atta Mills. He is also known as a  great humanitarian, establishing schools and rehabilitation programs, but it is no great surprise that his donations (upwards of $20 million) mysteriously outstrip his fortune (estimated at $15 million). He also has a history of giving "scholarships" and cars to winning football players on his team. 

If this sounds like an amalgamated profile based on some of our own "prosperity gospel" leaders, my guess is that Joshua comes close to being the offspring of Pat Robertson and Bishop Eddie Long. With Benny Hinn as the Godfather.

And it gets better: legends have sprung up around him, abetted by SCOAN and its website; probably the best of which is that his mother carried him in her womb for 15 months and that his birth was predicted one hundred years ago. Joshua has no known education in religion or theology, no Masters of Divinity degree. His "calling" is based upon his testimony alone. 

Whatever his fame and prominence in Nigeria, Joshua is now fostering "healing" in Britain, South Africa, Ghana and Greece (which, alas, can no longer afford him), hence, the deaths in the UK. 

The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria has denounced Pastor T.B. Joshua as an "impostor" and seriously questions his life, calling and ministry, but evidently this denunciation has done nothing to decrease his popularity. It is all the more evident that corruption and con men overflow in Nigeria to such a point that seepage onto the rest of the world was inevitable. 

*I'm ashamed to say that I've almost fallen for one myself, but after the first 50 or so, I don't read past the Line "My name is ______ from the _____(bank/embassy/wealthy family) of Nigeria. (or Lesotho)" 

The Morality Of OWS: U.S. Marine Sgt. Shamar Thomas vs. The Christian Right Establishment

(Author's note: This article has just hit #1 in OpEdNews! Please help me spread the word by clicking on to the link and telling everyone to do the same - it's more important than promoting this blog. Thanks for your wonderful support)

 As Occupy Wall Street (OWS) passes the one-month mark, people on both sides are proclaiming their stance on its morality, but one very imposing African-American ex-marine has captured the hearts and minds of people everywhere.

This weekend, United States Marine Corps. Sgt. Shamar Thomas from Roosevelt, NY faced down over a dozen NYPD officers and gave them hell about their brutality that has been plaguing the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement.

As he posted on his YouTube video:

I was involved in a RIOT in Rutbah, Iraq 2004 and we did NOT treat the Iraqi citizens like they are treating the unarmed civilians in our OWN Country. No one was brutalized because our mission was to 'WIN the hearts and minds.' why should I expect anything less in my OWN Country.

As a man who loves his country and its citizens, Thomas may have intended to point out the particular immorality in the NYPD's handling of the protesters. But an underlying sentiment was stronger: the morality of OWS itself.

And according to some of today's Christian leaders, the OWS is very, very IMmoral:

Renew America claims that President Obama will take the ultimate reins of power, using OWS as a pawn in his attempt to take over America. They are afraid that the Obama administration will cancel the 2012 elections in order to establish a dictatorship.

Pat Robertson said that OWS was a "cruder expression of Obama."

Bryan Fischer alleged that Nazis were working to bolster the Occupy Wall Street movement in tandem with Democrats and Communists.

At the Values Voters Summit, Tony Perkins (Family Research Council) and his band of "social conservatives" actually prayed for Divine intervention:

"May God prevent these radical organizers from stirring revolution and distracting voters from the elections and keeping watch on our elected leaders."

Maybe they thought God would smite the protesters with a plague or a tiny tornado to whisk away the tent city.

But now that we have people like Rev. Jesse Jackson in the fray, the OWS scenes across the country (and the world) have come to look more like the class struggle that it was intended to be. The latest question may now be: to what extent are churches going to be involved?

PROGRESSIVE CHURCHES JOIN THE FRAY AND WITHDRAW MILLION$ FROM BANKS
No doubt, there will be some harsh words to be said from conservative churches (like the Southern Baptist Convention) to progressive ones such as Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in San Jose, CA: it withdrew over $3 million from its Bank of America accounts and deposited the money in a local credit union. The reason given was not only solidarity to OWS, but a fiery rebuttal to all the foreclosures endured by it parish of 7200 people. St. Andrew Episcopal Church in Saratoga, CA is following suit with a withdrawal of $150,000 from Wells Fargo. Both are part of PACT (People Acting in Community Together) which now represents 25 congregations and 50,000 people.

The dichotomy will not be lost on the general public: various religious institutions will either be for "social justice" or against it.

Of course, the entire fracas boils down to money: those who need it, and those who want to keep it. The Christian Right's denominations may become one in supporting the 1 percent because, that is, after all, where their money comes from. It also behooves them to keep people poor and nix secular social programs since the poor used to depend upon church charity for survival. In effect: victory against the OWS movement would be a win-win situation for people like Tony Perkins, Pat Robertson, and rising conservative Southern Baptist star Pastor Robert Jeffress.

If the country has a sense of deja vu in all of this, it may be because it's now expecting to see scenes involving protesters and water hoses. Sgt. Thomas has made us look back and wonder on which side morality will stand.

Tis The Season To Be Hateful: Ironically, Jamey's Hell On Earth Continues. Will Hell Houses Follow Suit?

DISTURBING UPDATE:

At a homecoming bonfire that included a Lady Gaga song in memorial to Jamey Rodemeyer, shouts were heard "You're better off dead. We're glad you're dead" while knowing full well that Jamey's sister was in attendance. Police are investigating. (see video below).

So Will Jamey Rodemeyer's Death Be Featured In Hell Houses?

Jesus Christ died for your sins. That was unthinkably beautiful. Now Jamey Rodemeyer has died from your sins. That is not. That is the very hell that, awfully enough, you’ve somehow tricked yourself into believing your life refutes. - from the blog of John Shore

One of the most obvious causes of gay teen suicide are hell houses, yet people like Rev. Keenan Roberts refuse to acknowledge the fact or take any form of accountability.

“I don’t care. They say that we’re causing all the shame and confusion that the homosexual experiences—absolutely wrong. We’re saying, ‘You were not born this way; God did not do this to you. Jesus has all of the power to overcome and to set you free.’ It’s a conservative message presented in a very nonconservative way.”

"I don't care." Actually, that just about sums up the attitude of most hell house churches. In the past ten years, producers of hell houses have been told by researchers and psychologists that hell houses are harmful. For example, a 2001 study published in the Journal of Psychology found that “the belief in an active Satan directly related to intolerance toward gay men and lesbians.” One year ago, in a series called Demonizing America, we hit on the aspect of teen suicides and hell houses. but since then, there has been no evidence that churches will attempt to edit/change their scripts.


From a hell house script:

Homosexuality - No one is born gay. Genesis C1 V27 says that God created man in His own image. Homosexuality is sin and is not just an alternative lifestyle.
Gay Wedding - The sacred institution of marriage between a man and a woman is further disgraced by the unholy union of a man and a man, and Satan wouldn't have it any other way

The chorus against hell houses may be growing, but it's not large enough yet to really make a difference. Too many churches just "don't care." And while Christian Right leaders like Tony Perkins, James Dobson, and Bryan Fischer scream "We're not to blame," the onus is still on the bullies and their parents.


THE INTENSITY OF THE BULLYING

What is particularly terrifying about Jamey Rodemeyer's case is that (see update), his tormentors as still trying to torment him and his family. I personally have only seen such continued viciousness in one case: while living in San Francisco's dangerous Bay View district, I experienced gang homicides followed by additional shootingS - OUTSIDE THE FUNERAL PARLORS OF THE VICTIMS. Acts perpetrated like this show an absolute disrespect for humanity and human dignity. Had Rodemeyer's tormentors gone to his funeral and chanted the same taunts, it would not have been more horrible.

The intensity of Rodemeyer's continuing torment could spark a kind of warfare: if the bullies are brought to light, their families will be scorned and they might receive threats. The latest development has now caused America to react more with a horrified vengeance: the number of people in the country who would love to punch any of the perpetrators in the gut is growing. Ku Klux cross-burners - the ultimate bullies - could not have done a better job in fomenting hatred.

The Nail In The Coffin

As we've seen, perhaps the biggest nail in the teen suicide victim's coffin is the Halloween hell house: looming productions of hell houses across the country portend more suicides. It will be argued, of course, that everything/everyone is made right in the end of the religious fright fest because they are "saved" by Jesus.

But it's the demonizing that stays in the minds of teenagers as well as adults. Professions of "love" and "salvation" are muted. Does Keenan Roberts know this? Do the keen supporters of hell houses know this?

The blistering salvo is: yes. But as Keenan Roberts said, they just don't care.

And The People Who Caused It Couldn't Care Less: Another Bully-related Teen Suicide! Ho Hum.

“I wouldn’t care if you died. No one would. So just do it It would make everyone WAY more happier!”


We'll hear from the sacred cows in just a few hours (this being written at 3:00AM EDT). We'll hear how THEY would have prevented Jamey Rodemeyer's death. His parents, however, think differently: they actually worked with the school to try and stop the bullying - to no avail. Saving Jamey was almost too dauntless a task for any one entity. It would have taken a whole community to stop the bullying, and an even greater number to shore up Jamey's self-esteem. The bullying was too relentless, and it took the form of unabashed lies:

“JAMIE IS STUPID, GAY, FAT ANND UGLY. HE MUST DIE!”

This is a picture of Jamey Rodemeyer:

Far from "stupid", far from "fat", far from "ugly", but not far enough from "gay"

Perhaps the stark contrast coming from this situation is with those who absolutely refuse to have any gay sensitivity awareness or real anti-bullying presentations in schools because they think that their true purpose is "indoctrination." 

From a pamphlet distributed by Family Research Council:

This pamphlet describes how pro-homosexual activists work their way up from seemingly innocent-sounding "safe schools" programs (which treat traditional values as being equivalent to racism), to one-sided "training" of teachers and students, to injecting homosexuality into every subject in the curriculum. Their final step is the active punishment of those who dare to express disapproval of homosexual behavior. This pamphlet will equip you to oppose this promotion of homosexuality in your child's school.

After reading this, it's no wonder that Tony Perkins of the FRC actually stated that his own group of "social conservatives" were not in any way responsible for teen suicides. Obliterating religion's role in suicides for the last thousand years was quite a feat ... of hysterical stupidity, but Perkins pulled it off effortlessly.
       
Bullying as a Traditional Value

Isn't it possible that in prohibiting teachers and administrators from teaching that "homosexuality is normal" that  "traditional values" zealots just as forcefully send the message that bullying is "normal"? After all, bullies have been around for millennia ... just like marriage. The harm bullies do might be considered, in fact, totally inconsequential: young teens who might consider themselves gay certainly deserve the taunting they get, and who cares if they commit suicide? ALL gays are psychologically tortured because that's part of being gay! Bullies are just being normal boys. Girls are never bullies. 

The disingenuous statement that "Of course, we're concerned about the welfare of ALL our children against bullying" will undoubtedly be bandied about this time, but this time it may seem utterly rancid: a larger effort to stop bullying in that particular school district (Jamey was not the first bully-suicide) could have at least diminished the efforts of the bullies, but through sheer thoughtlessness and lack of compassion, the bullying went unabated. This time, the school was not at fault as much as the community at large, a community perhaps fueled by righteousness: with a town that celebrates Old Home Days, it is perhaps steeped in genteel poverty (the per capita income hovers just above the poverty line) and its population of only 6,000 (97% white) supports a major Catholic church and five private Christian schools. 

Looking back at it, Jamey never had a chance.

I just wanna say good bye, disappear with no one knowing

I don't wanna live this lie, smiling to the world unknowing

I dont want you to try, you've done enough to keep me going

I'll be fine, I'll be fine, I'll be fine for the very last time

Jamey Rodemeyer's life will be remembered by those who loved him:

Olivia Rinaldo, an eighth-grader at Heim Middle School, said she was drawn to his outwardly upbeat and extroverted personality. He made friends of the friendless, she said.

But his suicide will be discarded in memory by those bullies who just couldn't care less. 

The Curse of Cindy Jacobs: Joining The Latest In Genocide Enablers

On September 12th, when people were ruminating on the weighty issues of security and economy, Cindy Jacobs obsessed on Native Americans and their heritage being a curse on America. Although she took her inspiration from Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, she didn't bother to distill her rhetoric.

The Native American people were cannibals and they ate people. And so you can see a manifestation of that in the churches where people turned against people and kind of cannibalized other people’s ministries.

The self-proclaimed prophetess and leader of a militant evangelical group called Generals International, has, in the past, set her sites (or rather, God's) on causes of catastrophes and weird phenomena, positing that birds falling from the sky were a sign of God's displeasure at the repeal of DADT and that Japan's woes were tied to the fact that it is "shaped like a dragon."

Now she has come to wage war against Native Americans and their heritage: according to her, a "curse" upon America was lifted because of Rick Perry's "The Response."

We just had a prayer meeting in Houston a little a week ago, the governor of Texas, really as an individual instigated this, and 35,000 people showed up to pray and it was only a prayer meeting called within three months, three month period of time. So what happened? The land is starting to rejoice, you see, because of that prayer."

In her rush to judgment about raising curses from the American landscape, Jacobs, of course, got it all wrong:


Native Americans were not cannibals.* Her inane leap of reasoning somehow blames "the curse" for political factions within church denominations. Rick Perry used his position as governor to call "The Response." More than 70,000 people were expected and "The Response" was not even deemed a moderate success. And as one of God's Ambulance Chasers, Jacobs didn't bother to link the lifting of "the curse" to a natural calamity (the Texas wildfires occurred later than The Response), so how did the land start to rejoice?


It would be imprudent, however, to discount the unreasonable ramblings of Jacobs as ineffective: she has a following large enough to engage people in doing damage to Native Americans. She hits buzzwords with a beguiling innocence, thus setting into motion a violent hatred of people whose heritage is considered "heathen." 


Taking a cue from Rod Parsley's view on Islam ("America was establish to destroy Islam"), Jacob's sentiments might be looked upon not only as a enabler to the future abolition of Native American heritage, but also a call to arms against all Native Americans who haven't thoroughly converted to Christianity: it is, in effect, another strategy of "convert or die" apologetics. 


Jacobs also borrows heavily from another famous anti-Native American: Bryan Fischer.

Many of the tribal reservations today remain mired in poverty and alcoholism because many native Americans continue to cling to the darkness of indigenous superstition instead of coming into the light of Christianity and assimilating into Christian culture.**

That "Christian culture" Fischer alludes to is one that excludes a lot more people than a relative handful of people on tribal reservations: Muslims, Jews, Mormons, and even Catholics.***


None Dare Call It Genocide


While some people may think that the term genocide does not apply to the machinations of Cindy Jacobs, Bryan Fischer, John  Benefiel, et al., think of them as precursers of the ideology that the "only good non-Christian is a dead non-Christian": demolishing a heritage makes it much easier to eradicate that part of civilization attached to it. Hitler knew that when he attempted to level all the Jewish sections of occupied cities: he only kept Prague's beautiful Josefov in tact (complete with its 800-year-old synagogue) as a "museum of extinct peoples."


Another look at the origins of what we could call "heritage genocide" reveals Rev. John Benefiel of the Heartland Apostolic Reformation Network who recently called the Statue of Liberty an "idol." Several years ago, Benefiel and his compatriots made a ritualistic splash in smashing Hopi and Navajo artifacts since they were believed to be manifestations of worship of Baal and Leviathon - Canaanite gods. Benefiel never sufficiently described just how those gods traversed the Atlantic (maybe an evil worshipper sneaked onto Colombus' Santa Maria). 




On October 3rd, Benefiel, Jacobs and other members of the Apostolic Reformation movement will descend upon Washington, D.C. with  "DC 40: Forty Days of Light Over D.C". Will it bring about the destruction of Baal in our nation? Or will it further curse our nation with intense religious bigotry over indigenous people, Muslims, and people of all other ideologies?

* Read a good treatise on the myth of Native American cannibalism: Native American Cannibals
BTW: Romans considered the early Christians cannibals: they were the weird people who "ate their own God."
**Ironically another parallel to early Christianity: the early Christians were thought to be too overtly superstitutious.
*** Not to mention homosexuals, feminists and, well, just about everyone who isn't Bryan Fischer.

God's Ambulance Chasers Didn't Budge This Time: Irene Wasn't Profitable Enough!

Compassion, but NO Evangelizing? What is this world coming to?

No solar-powered audio Bibles blaring the New Testament like in Haiti. No Scriptural tracts pouring forth from cargo planes like in the Asian Tsunami. No Bibles being proffered ubiquitously to hurricane victims like in Hurricane Katrina's Houston Astro Dome village. God's Ambulance Chasers were strangely absent.


The only things church groups were proffering were what regular relief groups were providing: food, shelter and clothing to Irene's victims.


Irene, it seems, just wasn't worth the effort for GACs: not in souls and certainly not in money. It may be that, in their way of thinking, arch-enemy and secular behemoth FEMA was doing too much. True, The Salvation Army and Pat Robertson's Operation Blessing leaped into Irene's aftermath,* but true bible throwers were very, very scarce: Irene just wasn't DISASTROUS ENOUGH! 


Of course, their evangelical absence allowed Obama-haters and Tea Partiers to take center stage during the evacuations and relief efforts. The leading man in the FEMA-Is-A-Drag-On-The-Economy drama is, of course, Ron Paul.


Last May: 

Paul said FEMA is bad economics and bad morality. He said the federal government shouldn’t be helping people when they do “dumb things”. He also claims the agency is unconstitutional and that collecting taxes to fund the agency amounts to coercion.

So being in the path of a hurricane is a "dumb thing"? I guess Mr. Paul might suggest that cities and towns should not be built in the paths of natural disasters: like San Francisco (earthquakes), Galveston (hurricanes), Joplin, MO (tornadoes), Honolulu (tropical storms), Chicago (seiches), Watertown, NY (huge snowfalls) Guerneville, CA (flooding). In effect, Paul's comment is: "Tough, suckers!"   


Of course, pusillanimous pundit Glenn Beck takes an even more disturbingly negative view of FEMA:

We’ve done that to this. We now have this woman saying oh, when there’s a disaster you’ve gotta to help. No, we help each other. We are good neighbors to each other. We will provide better help for each other than the government could ever.

Unfortunately, it was Beck villain Franklin D. Roosevelt who proved that the government could indeed mandate compassion - because it had to: too many "Hoovervilles" were dotting the American cities due to a distinct lack of compassion from the rich. 


Then, of course, there were the Irene-Is-A-Sign-From-God people at Apocalypse 2011. They are the people who followed Harold Camping into epic humiliation with the Great Rapture Failure of May 21st. And they are supported by the eminent(ly looney-tuned) Cindy Jacobs who says that the earth is so frustrated with sin that it "groans" with natural disasters. To be honest, Jacobs has been hypocritical enough to ask for disaster relief funds and her hands have never touched a shovel for mucking out the homes of hurricane victims. 


COMPASSION VS CONVERSION


Perhaps the foremost reason GACs stayed away from relief efforts is that they no longer consider American disasters to be a fertile field for conversions. A "Christian Nation" doesn't really need solar-powered Bible blasters any more, does it? Katrina was the last real chance to prominently preach because, of course, it had been caused by the gays in New Orleans and their orgy/party "Southern Decadence." Their target for righteous indignation was tailor-made. Irene's path, however, made it difficult to pinpoint a particular group or religion or mythical beast** so the general "America's sin is just asking for it" meme falls behind in impact. Way behind.


So what Irene hat wrought may not be the end of God's Ambulance Chasers as much as a realization that they know when they're outnumbered by people of compassion. 


Poor Irene. It just wasn't worth it.




*Operation Blessing concentrated on Pat Robertson's own area, Virginia Beach, which was hard hit to be sure, but little has been discussed about going out of the area.
**Like Cindy Jacobs' "Japan is shaped like a dragon" remark.