Yep John,
God gives no refunds apparently.
Phil.
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Schwery" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, December 31, 2007 5:12 PM
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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> >12/31/2007 12:20 PM
>
> John
>
>
> --
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12/31/2007 12:20 PM
>
>
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