I think one of the worst disservices many Christians do themselves is to seek out spiritual leadership that tells them what they want to hear, rather than reading the whole Word and seeking leadership that reflects it. This is what keeps the Pimps of the Prosperity Gospel in stitches. They tell people who want monetary riches that they will be rich and they all are happy, but they are also ignoring the truth. A truth that Christians should desire to have no more than their basic necessities met. As Paul tried to explain to people in the past that wished to pimp the gospel of Jesus Christ for earthly riches.
1 Timothy 6:5-10 (New King James Version)
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So why does Joel Osteen say (emphasis added):
J. OSTEEN: I believe that God wants to bless us. I mean, it costs a lot of money to send our kids to college these days, and you know, and for us to drive a nice car. Our message that God wants you to have plenty to pay your bills.
Folks, those are the words of a man who is attempting to sell godliness as a means for material wealth. Joel supposes “that godliness is a means of gain”. This is an effort to bastardize the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the name of material wealth. And so Sunday after Sunday people go into a place called a house of God to figure an angle on material gain, when Jesus told us the riches are in heaven.
John 14:1-6 (New King James Version)
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There is no record of Thomas or the other disciples ever receiving a mansion on earth. And they did a heck of a lot more to establish and spread this faith than Joel Osteen.
Recently CNN ran a show titled “What is a Christian? Where do you Fit?”. Anderson Cooper was the front man. You can get the transcript here. (The quote from Joel Osteen above comes from that transcript.)
While CNN called the show “What is a Christian?”, they never bothered to explain the basics of Christian theology. Instead the show focused on finding as many various Christian political and financial factions as possible and putting their points of contention on display. When they talked about the crucifixion, it was in the context of a pastor who felt that way about the midterm election results and his anticipations for a “resurrection” 
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I might not have liked some of the midterm results, but give me a break! To compare an election outcome to the death of our Lord for the sins of the world is a disrespect to Jesus himself. Should we turn those election results into a movie and call it The Passion of the Republicans?
Anyone seriously wondering what the core beliefs of a Christian are did not get any of it on this CNN show. Just the same, since they did a segment on the pimps, I feel a desire to talk about that portion of the show.
In addition to Joel, they also discussed Creflo Dollar. Keep that first Bible verse above in mind as you read the following from Pimp Daddy Dollar.
PASTOR CREFLO DOLLAR: The Word of God is the gateway to the world of wealth.
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DOLLAR: Everything that pertains to life and godliness is in your bible.You’ve got money in your lap. You’ve got a house in your bible.
Claiming godliness for gain!
Can someone please tell those fooled by Creflo’s claim that “Jesus was rich” on earth, that Jesus himself qualified his earthly financial status.
Luke 9:58 (New King James Version)
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I’m not a big Rick Warren fan, but even he sees through the mess being tossed out by those pimps and the segment mentioned that he calls it “name it and claim it materialism”.
Ultra Liberal heretic James Forbes, who endorses the lie that God is OK with people giving into their lustful temptations of living gay, was also featured in the segment speaking against the pimps. Even the most broken clocks get the time right on this one.
The prosperity pimps and their followers love to dwell on Old Testament Bible verses in King David’s Psalms, that speak of material wealth. Instead of dwelling on the words of Jesus and instructions from Paul regarding money, they set their foundation on scripture which speaks of a separate place and time in the faith. They ignore the reforms brought by Christ regarding desires for earthly wealth, but they claim they want to be just like Jesus.
Watch the segment using the link below.
CNN on Prosperity Gospel Pimps – WMV Video (Size: 3.00 MB)
(If linking, please link to this post, not the media file. For the sake of bandwidth there will be no other formats made.)
Well I guess this is as good a time as any to tell you, I’m a James Brown fan 
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No he was not a Gospel artist and he had some issues in his personal life, but you’ve got to admit he did try to keep his on stage performance cleaner than these nuts. James Brown had a performance that perhaps outside of songs like “sex machine”, that could be watched by an entire family. The vast majority of his material and what made him famous was good and clean. Not like today where trash rises to the top.
James Brown was and always will be the godfather of Soul (GFOS). He was the hardest working man in show business. If you saw any of his older material, you’d see he would dance an entire show, close and then return to dance some more. It was an amazing feat of human endurance. He came up in hard times, but he didn’t allow it to make him bitter. He kept his personal issues to himself as best he could and didn’t use them as a means to up his “street cred”.
When JB sang about women, it was with respect and not with the objectification given to women by many music performers today. He knew a man’s world was nothing without a woman or a girl 
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My personal favorite of his is Living in America. Check it out!
Unlike some of today’s music artist (such as Kanye West) James Brown loved America and didn’t harbor delusions about the American Dream being a farce. He worked hard from conditions that today’s crybaby Liberal artists could never imagine. JB respected the office of the President. Many don’t know he was a Republican, supported Richard Nixon for President and everyone knows he sang at Nixon’s inauguration. He also had dinner with LBJ. When JB wanted to make a political statement, he wrote a song like “I Don’t Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing (Open Up The Door, I’ll Get It Myself)”. A bold slap against Liberals, who always cry for “diversity programs” and government handouts. (It will be interesting to see if Liberals attempt to turn JB’s funeral into some kind of political statement when you know the facts.)
People who wanted to see racial matters addressed with violence were upset that they could not pull JB into their nonsense. JB knew that people who work hard and believe in themselves could actually succeed.
He was far from perfect, but if today’s artists were half of what he tried to stand for in public, today’s entertainers might be regarded as great Americans.
I’m just glad I recorded a high-def concert of his recently on my DVR. I had no idea it might be one of his last.
Soul Brother #1! GFOS, RIP!
Freedom Folks linked with James Brown: A Fond Farewell
I pray you are having a wonderful day and celebrating that God loved us so much that he sent his son to provide a means for our salvation from sin.
While many parents make a great sacrifice of seeing their children go into war and possible death, no human parent knowingly sends their child on a suicide mission that benefits lesser beings. This is what God did for us and praise be to him that although Jesus fulfilled the suicide mission (a mission he had the choice to refuse), he was resurrected and lives today at the right hand of the Father.
Praise God, because as Jesus said “it is finished” and you have access to the Tree of Life, so you can avoid deserved damnation. All you need to do is ask Jesus to save your soul, turn from evil and salvation is yours. He was born of a virgin, died for our sins and risen on the 3rd day. All for you!
Jesus came in the form of a human to make a sacrifice for man’s sin, because our sin placed us so far away from God there was no other way to provide a means of salvation to all mankind. There is no greater gift than the one given in the form of Jesus Christ. And salvation is free!
Word is that the stripper accuser told an investigator Thursday, that she was not able to testify with certainty that she was raped. For us following the case for a long time this is no surprise. Because if you’ve been following along, an officer noted that she said she was not raped a long time ago. So it went from not raped, to raped and now she says she’s not certain. Changing stories and politics has been all this case was ever about.
FoxNews has been all over this breaking news.
There are still other charges pending, that I say are totally bogus. Just wait, they’ll disappear too. La Shawn Barber is covering the news. Allahpundit over at Hot Air finally has posted about this and says he’s never really been following the case. He says his boss had him cover it and she (Michelle Malkin) is blogging on the story too.
If you have not been following along, check out some of these posts to see why this case was no good from the start. These are just some of the many posts I’ve made regarding this case.
Will Durham, NC District Attorney Mike Nifong be prosecuted for running with this case given all the exculpatory evidence? Will the stripper accuser be prosecuted for what I feel was a major lie?
I say Nifong ran with this (in political terms literally) for his own personal gain and he should face prosecution. Also race was played on in a major way. It was all so ridiculous given THE FACTS. But like I’ve said before, emotion and reason are not close relatives. Those who ran with emotion are totally devoid of the facts. (And many of them did not want the facts.) All they saw was a token of White guilt, crying she was abused by some rich White boys. And that was enough for this mess to continue rolling non-stop. I’m glad I was able to chronicle some of how people are easily played when they ignore the facts.
Watch a little of Megyn Kendall’s take, when she talked about this on FoxNews, using the link below.
FoxNews report of rape charges being dropped in Duke Lacrosse NO LONGER A Rape Case – WMV Video (Size: 3.30 MB)
(If linking, please link to this post, not the media file. For the sake of bandwidth there will be no other formats made.)
Rare is the day a member of Congress has the guts to say what should be said. If we had more men in DC like Virgil Goode our nation would be far better off.
Congressman Virgil Goode fires back on Quran letter controversy
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He won’t apologize for his words and stands firm. That’s a man baby! And he’s a great American.
Here’s details on the Diversity Visa Program.
Did you know that in the UK more babies are now being named Mohammed than George?
update 12/22/2006 12:38PM: See congressman Goode’s first interview after the P-C Brigade started crying. Congressman Goode says he’s getting more positive feedback than negative. Because truth be told, even some who claim they disagree with Goode (for image concerns) know he’s telling the truth!
Fellow GTB blogger Vanishing American is one of few with the guts to openly congratulate congressman Goode.
update 12/26/2006 11:04AM: La Shawn Barber has also stepped up to the plate in support of Congressman Goode!
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And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.