We heard about half an hour of a transmission from a very big church in
London as we saw the new year in ... and they were naming and claiming just
about everything! I was left wondering where the line is though between
such folk and all the rest of us who need to exercise faith in God.
I just reach the point in my thinking where I understand I couldn't know all
that God has to take me through and teach me if I had all these things in
abundance all of the time ...
Anyway, we didn't listen for too long and put on a CD instead which was
good, even if it sent me to sleep eventually. <Smiles>
--
Carol
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----- Original Message -----
From: "John Schwery" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2008 12:12 AM
Subject: Re: Give Me, Give Me
> Phil, as I'm sure you know, the give me theology is called prosperity
> theology. My wife knows a guy who used to give to Kenneth Copeland's
> ministry. When he fell on hard times, he wrote and asked that ministry
> for $50. The ministry wrote back, saying in effect, just have faith and
> you will be fine.
>
> earlier, Phil Scovell, wrote:
>
>>Although Sandy and I have almost been married for 37 years, well,
>>as of January the eighth of next month that is, I have just about
>>had it up to here with e harmony dot com advertisements. The
>>other day, while watching something on a satellite channel,
>>another one of their commercials came on. As I listened, I asked
>>myself, why don't they run a bunch of commercials of people who
>>got married, then divorced, or people who got together through
>>their online services, and then split up. Don't they know, or
>>don't we know, that it is often the case that opposites match and
>>not those who are 29 dimensions of compatibility? I mean, how
>>many years have these e harmony commercials been running? Three
>>maybe? Four? By the way, I have done a little research and
>>talked with singles who have logged on to e harmony looking for
>>someone compatible. One guy I pray with found a lady locally,
>>they dated a few times, and broke up. Another lady I pray with
>>from Indiana said some of the questions she had to fill out would
>>have classified her as a nut so she gave up and never did answer
>>all the question. Another lady in Arizona, who was living with a
>>man who was deeply into online and print pornography and weirded
>>out on dumb video games as a grown man, broke up with him because
>>she realized Jesus should be more important to her than what this
>>guy was doing for her, and to her, and guess what? He isn't even
>>a Christian, well, he says he got born again in high school, and a
>>chicken has lips, too, and he joined e harmony and is now dating a
>>gal locally. I wonder if e harmony has a question that asked,
>>"Are you addicted to pornography and video games?" Somehow, I
>>doubt it and besides, if a man was so addicted, do you honestly
>>think he'd admit to it when filling out the 29 dimensions of
>>compatibility report? I wouldn't, that's for sure, and I'm not
>>even addicted, to porno that is. Anyhow, I just wonder about such
>>things like this when watching some of these mega ministry shows,
>>and I used the correct word, shows, on TV who read all these
>>glowing reports of people who sent in their last 50 dollars and
>>got 5,000 dollars in return within 24 hours. I think, "Why don't
>>they read the letters of people who went bust after sending in
>>their last 50 dollars or who have written back and said, I want my
>>money back because you didn't make it work?" I know, I think
>>backwards about such things but maybe we should think about the
>>other aspects of such things, especially since e harmony is
>>supposed to be run by a Christian guy in the first place.
>>Wouldn't you think churches should be putting people together
>>instead of a freaking website making millions of dollars in the
>>first place or what? I was listening to a Christian network TV
>>show, there's that word again, the other day and the man and
>>woman, I didn't recognize who they were, were talking about how to
>>be blessed financially. Their suggestion, no, their divine
>>revelation, if you please, was based upon 200 freaking dollars. I
>>didn't even have 20 at the time so I was a sub standard Christian
>>apparently. However, they were reading dumb letters and telling
>>even dumber testimonies about people who sent in their last 200
>>dollars and how they were getting thousands of dollars in return
>>within a day or week. They were, of course, recommending you do
>>the same and not to your own church but to their ministry. No big
>>surprise there. I wanted to call their hot line for Jesus up and
>>say, "Hey, why don't you send me, and all your 5 million
>>listeners, 200 dollars a piece and let God bless you instead?
>>What is this, give me, give me, give me, theology you keep
>>preaching. Ain't you ever heard of giving?" I figured they'd
>>just hang up on me without sending me 200 dollars in the first
>>place so I skipped calling them. I think I told the story of my
>>mom calling me years ago, she is passed away now, and she and my
>>step dad, were attending the largest church in Denver. This
>>church, by the way, was one of the churches where, in their branch
>>ministry, a couple of people were shot and killed in recent weeks.
>>Anyhow, mom was really confused and had worry in her voice when
>>she called. She told me that this church, the previous Sunday
>>morning, passed out sealed envelopes, following a very passionate
>>sermon that was preached. People were asked not to open their
>>envelopes until they were instructed to do so. The sermon, of
>>course, was about financial blessings we can receive from God if
>>we are generous. It was probably, you go first, type of preaching
>>but that is just a cynical suggestion on my part. Anyhow, the
>>members, of which there were about 5,000 in attendance that
>>morning, when told to open their envelopes, each were given a 20
>>dollar bill. They were told that the church just wanted to bless
>>them financially and that they could return the money in the
>>offering next Sunday, if they liked, take their family out to
>>eat, by some ice cream, or do whatever they desired with the
>>money. If they think you can take your family out to eat for just
>>20 bucks, they have rocks in their head but I digress. I asked my
>>mom what she and my step dad were going to do with the money? She
>>said, "Well, we are going to give it back. What else?" Guess
>>what the offering was next Sunday? Mom told me that, based upon
>>the number of adults, and remember, out of 5,000 people in the
>>auditorium, there were lots of children, too, the total amount
>>the adults were given 20,000 dollars. Yes, indeedie. They done
>>announced this dollar amount from the pulpit. No, I have no idea
>>why they made such an announcement. I thought the Bible said not
>>to let the right hand no what the left hand is doing when it came
>>to money but maybe I have never understood that theology in the
>>first place. So, the next Sunday, the offering is taken and
>>quickly counted. The total was 30,000 dollars. Ain't that nice?
>>Mom said they put extra money in that next Sunday, too, besides
>>the 20 bucks they each got. Why? Well, shoot. Everyone wants
>>God to bless them financially. right? Anyhow, this is my way of
>>starting out the new year. I want everybody to send me 200
>>dollars. If you don't have that, I'll take 20 dollars. If you
>>don't have that, I'll take 2 dollars. If you don't have 2
>>dollars, I'll take a dollar. If you don't have even that much,
>>forget it. God won't bless you if you are that cheap.
>>
>>Phil.
>>
>>
>>The Curse That Works Is The One We Believe
>>WWW.SafePlaceFellowship.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>12/31/2007 12:20 PM
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
> John
>
>
> --
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>
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