7 Words We Can’t Say Anymore

[ Ekta Note & Fair Warning: This blog contains some words I don’t normally use, hence the “fair warning”. If you choose to read on, it’s not my fault if you get offended. ]

Rahm Emanuel, White House Chief of Staff, really disappointed me last week when he caved to Sarah Palin and apologized for using the word “retarded” – not for using the word “fucking” (which would’ve gotten me bitch-slapped by my parents) – but for properly using the word “retarded” in a sentence, as in “That idea is fucking retarded!”

Mr. Emanuel has put me in the awkward position of defending him; as an American and a speaker of the English language, Rahm Emanuel had and has every right to say the word “retarded” – as often as he likes – anytime and anywhere he chooses.

This brings me to our first word – now referred to by anal-retentive-politically-correct-talking-heads as “The ‘R’ Word”…

1. Retarded – the word means to delay, to hinder, or to slow the advance of. This is the exact meaning of the word in Mr. Emanuel’s recorded exclamation. Some very liberal, progressive elements of the Democrat Party were acting in a way so as to “retard” the progress of the White House’s 2009 agenda.

Unfortunately, “retarded” can also refer to children who are born with less than normal mental faculties – children that are “slow”, “held back”, “special” or…

Retarded.

2. Nigger – oh, sorry, “The ‘N’ Word”. This word is so bad, I can’t even find it in any dictionary I own – yet, somehow, my Microsoft Word Spell-Check recognizes “nigger” as a legitimate word. Racists at Microsoft?

I remember this word popping up quite often in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – it would, wouldn’t it – it was the 19th Century – but I also hear the “N-Word” on a few CD’s I own (Alicia Keys, Morcheeba, to name a few) and on an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm (Krazee-Eyez Killa) where Larry David becomes a “nigga”.

This word is so forbidden that real words that sound like it can’t be said – such as “niggard” (a miser, one that is stingy) or “niggardly” (small, few or scanty) – there have even been cases where “Niger” (a river in West Africa) has been mispronounced much to the chagrin of the mispronouncer.

3. Midget – very small of its kind; miniature, see dwarf. Another perfectly good word outlawed because of hurt feelings. We must say “little people” now, as in, Little People, Big World. But, what are “little people”? Miniatures, very small of its kind; see midget.

4. Handicapped – to cause to be at a disadvantage. In 2010, the proper term is “disabled” or “physically challenged”. The only time one can properly use the word “handicap” is when one is referring to the game of golf – as in, “What is Tiger Woods’ handicap?”

In my dictionary, “the handicapped” are defined as “those who are physically disabled or mentally retarded.” How insensitive!

5. Oriental – a member of the Orient or a member of the people native to that region; SE Asia, south of the Himalayas, Philippines, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and other associated continental islands. Jackie Chan is not “Oriental”, he’s “Asian”.

Now, Charlie Chan, he was Oriental – because Mr. Chan knew that Asians have the characteristics of Asians, not Orientals. Confused? If you’re confused, say “Aye”. All right, check the “ayes”.

 6. Fag, Fagot, Faggot – which can mean everything from a cigarette to a hemstitch with wide spaces, has been outlawed by one of the word’s minor American slang meanings. It amazes me how one small vocal group of people can suddenly claim possession of a perfectly good word. (“Can I bum a fag, mate?” – see what I mean.)

7. Crazy – unsound of mind, mentally unbalanced or deranged, experiencing extreme excitability or rage. Why did Andrea Yates drown all of her children in the bath tub? Why did Casey Anthony kill her baby daughter? Why did Charlie Sheen hold a knife to his third wife’s throat? Why did Charlie Sheen get married a THIRD time? Why do the Duggers have 19 kids? That’s right – The “C” Word.

No, not that “C” Word – crazy – is what I meant.

Misunderstandings happen when we don’t say what we mean.

Mike Papantonio Wets Himself

Rush Limabugh has the power to transform himself into a hyena; and after this transformation, feast on the dead in Haiti… 

…so says Mike Papantonio in his latest (Jan. 20, 2010) Pensacola News Journal opinion piece titled, “Limbaugh Feasting on Haitian Tragedy.” 

That’s right, Rush Limbaugh is the embodiment of the Nigerian belief that human beings can, at will, transform themselves into hyenas, according to Mr. Papantonio… 

“A hyena will scavenge graves for food. It is an animal that shows no respect for the dead. Instead, it merely regards the misfortune of once-living carcasses as an opportunity. Rush Limbaugh gave credence to that Nigerian superstition last week when he used the tragedy of 100,000 Haitian men, women and children to promote himself as America’s No. 1 radio thug without a conscience…Limbaugh is much like that Nigerian mythical creature who evolved to the point that he is more hyena than human.” 

Papantonio’s column becomes more and more hysterical as it progresses to its shrill end. He mocks Limbaugh’s “12 years of school”, asserts that Limbaugh listeners are not “weighted down with those weak-minded beliefs that the well-being of our fellow man actually matters” and refers to Limbaugh’s comments on Obama and Haiti as being based in hate, “[a]fter all,” Papantonio writes, “they are black.” 

Just when you think the column can’t get anymore vociferous, Papantonio ends his column by calling upon the Haitians to use their “sorcery to change Rush’s bloated figure from a hyena back into a human being.” 

After he finished writing, I’m sure Papantonio had to change his shorts – for surely this outburst of jealousy and anger caused him to lose control of his bladder. 

For those of you who don’t know who Mike Papantonio is – and that should be a lot of you – Papantonio is a Pensacola (Florida) based personal injury attorney with the law firm of Levin, Papantonio, et al. (Let me note here, that many people think that trial lawyers are the human manifestation of hyenas, but I, Ektachrome, am not one of them. All lawyers are scum – until you need one.) Not only is Papantonio a PI attorney, he also hosts his own radio talk show (“Ring of Fire” heard on Air America and a few low wattage AM stations), he also hosts (along with Robert F. Kennedy) his own TV show, “GoLeftTV” which is seen via the internet or on those weird public access cable channels that show other stuff no one watches… 

…and that’s the whole problem. The only time Papantonio can garner an audience of any size is when (or if) he gets twelve jurors to listen to him in a Florida courtroom. 

Hence, the aforementioned “wetting” of himself. 

Ring of Fire homepage -- Limbaugh circled

Those that have no talent (Papantonio), in this case, no media talent, tend to attach their name to someone who has proven they can gather and grow an audience (Limbaugh) in hopes that someone – anyone – will notice them and listen, watch or read their otherwise dull and lifeless shows or columns, because there is no true talent there – there’s nothing about this guy, Papantonio, that makes you, or anyone else, want to listen. 

Anger is not talent – example… 

Air America died today – but in reality, Air America was still born – it was dead when it hit the air. Air America was born out of anger – anger at Bush – anger about the Iraq War – anger at the “vast Right-Wing Conspiracy” – anger at Evangelical Christians – but most of all, anger at Rush Limbaugh. 

Mike Papantonio is trying to continue that anger – he’s just another irate, shrill and puny voice crying out to be heard. But, with no audience, Papantonio attaches his name to Limbaugh’s so that by some means a few might hear his pathetic squeaks of rage. 

Nearly a year after Papantonio took Limabugh to task in another column (Pensacola News Journal, Jan. 28, 2009, “Let Rush Talk to a Laid-off Worker”) it is Papantonio’s fellow progressive Democrat and President, Obama, that has failed to close Guantanamo, has failed to end the Iraq War (or any war), has failed to lower unemployment, has failed to pass climate legislation, has failed to pass health care – this in spite of being in control of both houses of Congress. 

And Papantonio is angry at Limbaugh… 

My advice, Mr. Papantonio, is to blow your nose on your skirt and stick to tort law.

Frank Garlock: I’m All Shook Up, uh-huh…

Ahh, well bless my soul what is wrong with me?

My hands are shaky and my knees are weak.

I can’t seem to stand on my own two feet

Who do you thank when you have such luck?

I’m all shook up

uh-huh, mm-mm, yeah, yeah ~ Elvis Presley [edited], 1957 

It is unbelievable I know, but some people actually think they know why the Haitian Earthquake happened. 

For example, Dr. Pat Robertson, Pentecostal/Charismatic leader and End-Time Guru (can I use “guru” to describe a Pentecostal?) stated that the sole source of Haiti’s trouble was that the country had made a deal (a literal deal) with Satan himself to rid the island of those rude and evil French. This terrible earthquake was God punishing the Haitians and, at the same time, God was shaking the Haitian capital to get the Haitian’s attention – to get them to turn from their evil devil-dealing ways. 

[ Remember Pat Robertson ran for President of the United States of America in 1988 – yikes. ] 

Danny Glover, actor, mostly known for his role in the many Lethal Weapon movies, said that the Earth itself was punishing we evil humans for not coming to an agreement on reducing greenhouse gasses at the Copenhagen Climate Summit  last year. According to Glover the Earth is pissed off and this is an attempt to get our attention. 

[ I guess this is what happens to you when you hang around Mel Gibson too much… ] 

NASA, among other U. S. governmental agencies, said that according to satellite imaging there is a fault line near Port Au Prince that runs diagonally (from north to south) and has been known to “slip” abruptly causing violent earthquakes. 

[ Yeah, right – these are the same clowns that were complicit in “accidentally” erasing a hundred year’s worth of climate data – but – but – it really did shown that the Earth was getting warmer – really! ] 

So, what do I think? 

Outta Haiti

When I first heard about the Haitian earthquake, I had no idea that Music Man Extraordinaire, Dr. Frank Garlock, was actually in Haiti when the quake happened. According to posted accounts Dr. Garlock was thrown against an iron gate while all around him the shaking Earth and collapsing stone and concrete buildings gave new meaning to The Big Beat: A Rock Blast. 

Apparently Dr. Garlock arrived in Haiti around Thursday, January 7 – 

The earthquake happened on Tuesday, January 12. 

Coincidence? 

When I mentioned this to some friends, I expected dirty looks and comments like, “how dare you!” – but instead, one guy piped up, “Maybe his giant ego tipped the island.” 

A common sentiment when Dr. Frank Garlock’s name is mentioned. 

As an example, check out this little note mentioning a delay in Garlock’s return: 

Returning Home Delayed: 

 Dr. Garlock and Missionary Sarah Bennett planned to fly out of Haiti this morning at 7:30 am but the Haitian government blocked their airspace to allow Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to arrive in Port Au Prince. As a result, they missed their connecting flight out of Santo Domingo. ~ posted 01-16-2010 

Didn’t Secretary of State Clinton know that Dr. Garlock had to get out of Haiti? Can you believe the nerve of that woman? 

And if you think I’m being cold, “The Fighting Fundamental Forum” is a place where fundamentalists battle it out on the net for all of us to read. The site is a mess – hard to read – hard to follow – a lot like the Bible. Anyway, I would think these “Fundamentalists” would be “Garlock Cheerleaders” with nothing but good things to say about all the music in Garlock-land… 

The following are a few posts… 

Get yourself up to speed on Frank Garlock…There are about 20 people in the USA who share his view (if it makes you tap your foot, it is of satan) — post by “grounded grid” 01-13-2010, 07:12 PM 

Frank Garlock could be suffering right now in darkness, with no water. Who cares what his musical tastes are? — post by “BASSENCO” 01-14-2010, 03:17 AM 

I sat through a week of his music seminar as a freshman in 73. I could care less of his veiw of music…I’m praying he’s alive. — post by “pmart2″ 01-14-2010, 08:51 AM 

No matter his views on music…This is the time to pray for him, and not make fun of him. — post by “SouthernLouisanaGal” 01-14-2010, 09:02 AM 

I disagree with this guy on so many levels but we will share eternity together — post by “just john” 01-14-2010, 12:07 PM 

Pity about the thousands of dead blacks, but at least someone can still tell the rest to burn all their drums. — post by “Ransom” 01-14-2010, 05:00 PM 

[ I found that last post especially chilling – and typical. ] 

What’s the common theme? 

Most everyone wishes Dr. Garlock well… 

Most everyone disagrees with what he has to say.

High Yellow

A weird convergence of events has prompted this blog:

First: Senator Harry Reid’s 2008 comment that Barack Obama was electable because Obama was “light skinned” and spoke with no apparent “Negro dialect”.

Second: A caller to the Rush Limbaugh radio talk show brought up the term “high yellow”.

Third: The Haitian earthquake.

Let me explain the aforementioned “convergence”…

Senator Reid’s comments reminded me of a conversation I had with an African-American pastor from Pensacola, Florida. This black pastor, Pastor Robbie Underwood, mentioned to me that blacks make assumptions about each other based on the shade (light or dark) of their skin. And the preference was for lighter skin – light skin assumes a higher intelligence level, while the darker the skin (“blue black”, he called it) presupposes a lower intelligence level and, as a result, was not favored. This conversation took place in my living room nearly 20 years ago, but, because of the unusual subject matter, I still remember the details of it.

“High Yellow” – actually, when I first heard this term, it was pronounced “high yeller” and it was during a meeting discussing an upcoming photo-shoot for an ad paid for by a large Christian organization in Florida. The ad would appear in several national Christian magazines (such as, Moody Monthly, Christianity Today, etc.) and would include bright, young, happy Christians enjoying life – but – I was told to include multiple races, not just whites. The woman who was in charge (and paying for the ad) admonished me to make sure when casting blacks for the shoot that I should choose “the high yellers”.

“Excuse me?” I replied, “I’m not sure what that means.”

After some laughter about me being a “Yankee”, the lady-in-charge explained that “high yeller” meant not white, not black, but a “light skinned black”.

It was on that day that I learned that “high yellow” was a color – a white code word denoting the shade of a black person’s skin. In essence what they were telling me was “make sure to include black people –just not too black…”

“High yeller” – I don’t remember being extremely offended by this remark – I mean, I did do the shoot and I took the check – but that remark stayed with me. I’ve never forgotten it. And when I hear or think of this Christian organization and this particular woman, the first thing that comes to mind is “high yeller”.

The remark reminded me of my stint at Bob Jones University (actually, the person who enlightened me on the meaning of “high yellow” was a BJU grad; also, one person at the meeting went on to work at BJPress, and another later went to work for Dr. Frank Garlock’s “Majesty Music”) and their interracial marriage ban and the BJU position that segregation of the races is scriptural (ordained by God). According to a sermon pamphlet the university published until the mid-70’s, even slavery for the African blacks was a good thing. Why? Because it removed those poor souls from the pagan religions of Africa and exposed them to Christianity where they could become “colored Christians”.  (“Is Segregation Scriptural?”, page 10)

This may explain the origins of the recent remark made by Pat Robertson, that Haiti’s plight is the result of a “pact with the Devil”. In Robertson’s view, Haiti and Haitians would have been better off as slaves under the Christian French or the Christian British – at least then they would have been shown the light of Christianity and given an alternative to the darkness of their native animistic religions. On this, Dr. Pat Robertson and Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. seem to be in agreement.

Which brings me to Haiti…

While attending BJU, I got to know a couple of Haitians, Edouard and Hantz – they were part of a program BJU offered called the “Timothy Fund”. The Timothy Fund covered the expenses of these students for 8 semesters (that’s 4 years) – but – after they graduate, they must return to their home countries as part of the agreement they made with Bob Jones University when they were initially accepted into the program. The university’s intent was to have these Timothy Students spread the Gospel in their home countries.

But, from my point of view, being involved with the advertising photography for the university, these Timothy Students served another purpose – they allowed BJU to appear to be multi-racial.

A cynical view, I know, but entirely true.

Thankfully, neither Edouard nor Hantz lives in Haiti anymore.

The Missing: BJU Cinema Faculty of the Past

In my last post regarding the current Bob Jones University Cinema faculty, I was a bit surprised to see some faces missing. People – teachers – who I knew at the time and thought they’d never leave the cocoon of the Fortress of Faith.

So, as 2009 now comes to a close and most everyone is in a semi-nostalgic mood, I want to pause and remember some of those familiar faces who, apparently, have left BJU and moved on to other things…

My only hope is that they left of their own free will and were not “asked” to leave – something that does happen at BJU – and it’s usually not for incompetence or health reasons, it’s because the faculty/staff member doesn’t conform to the standards of conduct set forth by the Bob Jones University Administration.

Some, of course, may have passed on to the Big Soundstage in the Sky — I just don’t know.  I’ve been out-of-the-loop for a while.

Now, the Faces of the Missing:

Dan Calnon - quiet and reserved, but an excellent all-around photo-man.  He could shoot, process and print — no one could run the Versamat like he could.  “Boss-Man-Really-Yells-Gross-Commands” – Mr. Calnon’s trick to remembering the color wheel of light (Blue-Magenta-Red-Yellow-Green-Cyan) – something that I’ve never forgotten and has served me well over the years.

_______________

Dave Gibble - my one memory of him was his story about driving through the desert in his 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle (with the 327) listening to the Eagles singing Take it Easy.  This story took place prior to his being employed at BJU.  (But maybe he never gave up listening to the Eagles and that’s why he’s “missing”?  hmmmm…)

_______________

Mr. Mag — this guy could design and build anything.  To me his workshop on the second floor of Unusual Films was absolutely fascinating.  I remember he had box loads (literally) of 16mm & 35mm gun cameras from which he would rob parts.  Amazing guy.  In one BJU film, The Printing, Mr. Mag appears on-screen as some mean Soviet character (hospital orderly?) — totally out of character for him.  He was a gentle, helpful and patient man — unless you messed up his shop…

_______________

Miss Glenn — I had forgotten her first name was “Virginia”.  I always remember her cleaning the films returned from churches on the film cleaning machine.  (BJU would rent out films to churches – Wine of Morning, Flame in the Wind, Sheffey, etc. – and when the films were returned, they were repaired and cleaned and sent to another church.)

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Mr. Pachter - the man behind “The Pachter Factor“.  One “joke” of his that he told repeatedly was that “MOS” in a script (which means “Without Sound) came to be “MOS” instead of “WOS” because of early German directors saying “Mit out sound” instead of “With out sound”.  Then, Mr. P would break into saying everything with a German accent…  Also, when referring to the multiple “Dr. Bobs” walking the campus, Mr. Pachter would say “The Doctors Bob” — which is correct, of course, but it was funny when Mr. P said it.  Of all the teachers, Mr. Pachter was the most human — which is why he’ll always remain a favorite of mine.

_______________

Two things Mr. Ratajski could never do: 1) Walk slow  2) Get married.

_______________

I know that Dr. Stenholm had a stroke back in the late 1980’s, but that’s all I know.  Mr. Tim Rogers took her place sometime in the early 1990’s.  Other than my Mom, this is the only other woman who scared the crap out of me…and, like my Mom, I didn’t always understand what she meant or what she was thinking…

…until much later.

See most of you in 2010. ~EKTA

Lasting Impressions: BJU Cinema Faculty

Last week I was told by a former Bob Jones University “survivor” that BJU publishes pictures of their faculty on the BJU website.  So, being the curious sort, I went to the site to see what had become of some of my former teachers and, as it turns out, classmates.

Since I was a “Cinema” major — that’s shooting and making films, not going to theatres to watch films — I concentrated on the Cinema faculty.  Since I’ve been gone, it looks as though the Cinema major has sort-of merged with part of the old Radio-Television major (or “RTV” as we used to call it).  That must be how BJU has incorporated digital imaging into their purely analog film/motion picture major.

Each yearbook “mug-shot” of my former Cinema instructors brought back memories — too many to post here, so, I’m just going to post the first memory that comes into my head when I see their picture…

Jim Block used to work in the BJU Photo Lab.  I remember when he would get an image just right, he’d say “PUURRRRFECT” — like Eartha Kitt’s Cat Woman.

________________

Bruce Polhamus, as I’ve mentioned before, is the guy who, during the screening of a documentary about the Holocaust in Cinema Lab, covered the projector lens during the scenes of naked female bodies being dumped into open mass graves — not the male bodies, just the female ones…  Weird.

________________

One night, frustrated and tired in the Animation Department, I slammed my fist down a-little-too-hard on an animation light table, shattering the glass.  Mr. Davenport knew what I had done but said nothing and helped me fix the table.

_________________

Another Animation Department memory…  Dave Rogers created and shot a full-color 16mm cartoon about a little black boy stealing a watermelon.  I think I remember a row-boat involved in the plot line somewhere.  Dave is also the guy that informed us one night that there would be no black people in Heaven.  Guess not, if they’re stealing watermelons, Dave.

________________

Steve Ross – don’t know a thing about him.  Lucky for Steve.

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Wade K. Ramsey – rolling his chair instead of getting up and walking – addictive use of Chapstick – constantly straightening and smoothing an imaginary hair while teaching.

________________

Mr. George Rogier (pronounced “Ro-jay”) – instead of saying “decibel”, Mr. Rogier would say, “des – see – bell”.  This is the man that’s responsible for me knowing how to coil any type of cord properly.

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Miss Laura Stevenson got on to me for turning in a script written in pencil.  “PENCIL?!!” she scrawled across my paper…in red pencil…

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Mr. Tim Rogers – “Do you two turkeys know anything about Chrysler voltage regulators?”  Turkeys?  Yeah, that’s right, he called us turkeys.  It was one evening me and a friend were walking in the back door of Unusual Films (or just “Films” as we Cinema majors called it) and Mr. Rogers had his head under the hood of a mid-70’s Dodge (Monaco?  Coronet?)  Guess he didn’t appreciate the interruption in his automotive repair work.  Hey – he’s the one that bought the Chrysler product.

________________

…and the rest I don’t know, but I will say it looks like they’ve finally got a replacement for Mr. Pachter.

…oh, and nice moustache, Hal.

Instant Karma: “Wheels of Tragedy” Strikes Back

Or, try this in your Smart Car…

In my previous post, I mentioned the 1960’s era “Driver Safety Film” Wheels of Tragedy and how this gruesome, yet comical, motion picture was used by Bob Jones University to get student drivers to slow down and be careful during the drive home for Christmas vacation.

I guess the Wizards of Smart at BJU knew how anxious we students were to get the hell out of there…

Anyway, on December 17, 1981 I had my own Wheels of Tragedy moment – but – thanks to plenty of ice and over two tons of Detroit steel, my passengers and I survived.

There was nothing but rain that morning when we left the campus of the Fortress of Faith. My white 1968 Ford Galaxie 500 2-door hardtop carried myself and four passengers and their luggage with room to spare. The Ford 302 V-8 barely noticed the additional weight. We made great time heading north out of Greenville, South Carolina to Hendersonville-Asheville, North Carolina.

It was still just rain on Interstate 40 in the Tennessee mountains – making good time with an average speed between 60 and 70mph (at that time the National Speed Limit was 55mph). Passing the exit for Newport, Tennessee, we approached the bridge crossing the French Broad River.

Unknown to me at the time, the elevated bridge ahead of me was completely coated with a glaze of ice.

Strange – the things you remember about an accident. For example, the song that was playing on the radio was Amie by Pure Prairie League.

I still think I would’ve made it across that bridge if it hadn’t been for another BJU student ahead of me in an orange-ish 1981 Mustang. He spun in front of me causing me to swerve to miss him – and I did miss him, but then I found out I couldn’t control my own car and I hit the left side railing of the bridge.

It was then that I remembered the semi that was somewhere behind me…

My car was moving sideways down the center of the bridge when the jack-knifed 18-wheeler hit me on the driver’s side – I can still hear his tires rubbing my car door as our two vehicles tangled. The semi ended up punching through the bridge guardrail, the cab dangling by the fifth-wheel over the French Broad River below.

My Ford continued down the bridge, pin-ball like, spewing luggage, parts and fluids in all directions. Finally, thankfully, the car stopped. My door would not open, so I had to get out of the passenger side door along with all of my passengers. The bridge was so slick I couldn’t stand without balancing against my wrecked car.

In the rain, fog and now snow, my passengers and I could hear the sounds of other cars crashing into each other – later I found out 17 total vehicles were involved – most BJU students on their way home.

But everyone, including me and my passengers, walked away unharmed.

My 1968 Ford Galaxie was dead at the scene. Its final resting place was a salvage yard in Dandridge, Tennessee.

It took me 15 hours to get home via Greyhound bus.

“Instant karma is gonna get you” – yeah – it did.

A Very Bob Jones University Christmas

The third week in December…

– if things haven’t changed, then this is the week that the current crop of Bob Jones University students head home for Christmas vacation. I say “if things haven’t changed” because over the years BJU has altered the way they allow students to leave for Christmas break.

Prior to 1984, and I don’t know how far back this goes, semester final exams were given immediately (within two weeks) AFTER Christmas break – around the second week of January. That’s right – students were dismissed for vacation then spent approximately three weeks at home then returned to face finals before the semester was officially over.

The reasoning behind this arrangement?

To make sure that students HAD to come back to finish the semester. The thinking was that some students would never return if they had no reason to do so – so, making sure they had to return to take their semester finals was a way to bring them back (or else non-returning students would forfeit the entire semester’s credits and tuition AND be marked expelled). In addition to finals, the University would subject returning students with week-long “revival” services to “get their hearts right” and “get right with God”. Of course that meant staying in school at BJU.

This “post-vacation finals” arrangement was changed in 1983 when finals were scheduled to come before Christmas break – as God intended them to be in the first place.

Prior to being released for Christmas vacation, every student who was riding in or driving a car home was required to watch a movie.

Yes – it was the one time BJU required students to attend a secular film.

The movie was called Wheels of Tragedy and starred highway patrol troopers of the Ohio State Highway Patrol. The purpose of the movie was to scare us into driving safely from Greenville, SC to where-ever we were going. The film was gory, graphic and disgusting – the first time you saw it – but after four years, and you attended the viewing in a light-hearted, pre-Christmas vacation mood (along with your roommates), the movie became extremely funny – hilarious even.

Over the years, in various movie theatres, I’ve seen a lot of comedies – BUT I’ve never heard people laugh so long and loud as I did in the BJU FMA during the screening of Wheels of Tragedy the evening before Christmas vacation.

Coincidentally, the 2009 calendar matches the 1981 calendar – in 1981, BJU Christmas vacation started at 5:30AM, Thursday, December 17.

Prior to 5:30AM no student was allowed out of bed – no exceptions.

To enforce this rule, every dorm room door on every hallway in every dorm (men’s & women’s) was opened and “hall monitors” checked the occupants thereof to make sure they were still in bed. Anyone caught out of bed would receive demerits and would be delayed in leaving for vacation.

To get around this, students would pack the night before and would sleep in their driving clothes. When the 5:30AM bell rang (simultaneously in all of the dorms), there was a mad rush to get to the cars and get off campus as quickly as possible.

I had one roommate make it out the Brokenshire gate in his car (passengers, luggage and all) in less than 3 minutes.

I salute you and your 1976 Ford LTD station wagon, Dale!

In 1981, I was working as an animator on another student’s senior student project film, when I hastily sketched the artwork posted within this blog. Since the original is now 28 years-old, torn and very faded, I “digitally enhanced it”. My 1981 roommates loved the original and stuck it to our dorm room door –

– but – I was made to take it down by the BJU Administration.

The reason(s)?

1.) Promotion of a secular film (Star Wars).

2.) Equating Bob Jones University with the Death Star, i.e., evil

Ahhh, the BJU Christmas break memories!

This Was Your Prosperity Gospel Life! (Part 10 of 10)

For the following, substitute the name “Simon” for Oral Roberts, Paul Crouch, Benny Hinn, Paula White, Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, Perry Stone, etc… or your favorite Prosperity Gospel Preacher.

There was a certain man called Simon, who used illusions and trickery, and amazed the people of the city, making out that he, Simon, was some Great One – a man of God.  And the people of the city all listened, gave heed and bought his books, from the weak to the powerful, saying, “This man has that Great Power of God!”

The reason they thought Simon was a man of God?  Because for a long time he had amazed them with his illusions and deceit.

Now, when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles hands the Holy Spirit was given, Simon realized he had competition in the religion business, so he offered the apostles money, saying, “Give me also this power, that on whomever I lay my hands, that person may receive the Holy Spirit.”  But the apostle Peter said to Simon, “Follow the money and drop dead with it!  How dare you try to obtain the gift of God with money!” ~ Acts 8:9-11 & 18-20, EKTA ED.

This Was Your Prosperity Gospel Life! (Part 9 of 10)

In rememberance of the late Oral Roberts…

The awful truth and the Final Destination…

…and now we dolly back and we fade to black…

Kodachrome: R.I.P.?

News of the possible death of Kodachrome film has me feeling a bit nostalgic — and really old.

Kodachrome 25 was the film to use if you wanted sharpness, fine grain and brilliant color.  The film was slow in its ultimate form — in bright sun, and following the “rule of thumb” exposure guide, the shutter speed was 1/30th of a second at f/16.  It was expensive compared to color negative film.  The Pro version of Kodachrome had to be refrigerated to retain its freshness.  Yeah — you had a lot invested in the image — you had to work at it — blowing the shot cost you money.

Circa 1980:  Sitting in an undergrad camera class in the university I attended, I remember my photography teacher (the head cinematographer at the university’s motion picture film unit) making fun of of some early attempts at making 35mm still cameras auto-focus.  The early units were bulky and didn’t work very well.  They were slow, cumbersome and inaccurate — besides, we laughed, who would want or need auto-focus?  While we were yucking it up in camera class, the camera class teacher, Mr. Ramsey, suggested that what the camera companies really needed to do was come up with an “auto-composition” camera…

“Can you imagine?”, Mr. Ramsey said, “A camera that, if you don’t want someone or something where it is in the frame, just move it.  For example, if the Sun’s in the wrong place, just move it where it needs to be!  The camera and you just rearrange all of the elements of the image until perfect composition is achieved!”  We all laughed.  How ridiculous!  And…we all blindly got back to studying reciprocity failure, grain technology, push/pull processing, matte shots….

Uh-huh — Mr. Ramsey had just described what we now know as Photoshop.

At the time, almost 30 years ago, now, my fellow classmates and I had no idea that computers, software and CCD’s would ever invade, take-over and re-make our photographic world.  Sure, we used computers at the time — with a card reader.  We had a few IBM PC’s, but we used them as electronic file cabinets or, in the case of our multi-image productions (with over 30 individual slide projectors + motion picture projectors and effects) as very fast and accurate switching units.  Never would have imagined that the images themselves would be stored (eventually) in the PC itself.

In a realtively short time, digital’s takeover of analog photography has reached the highest levels.  Kodak, whose only worry used to be Fuji Film “dumping” inexpensive film onto the US market, now has to worry about its very survival as a company.  (And some of us who concentrated on the lab side of analog photography are doing the same — fighting to survive.)

There are probably more images captured now than ever before in history — and that’s a good thing for the art of photography…

…but I just don’t have much invested in the image, anymore — especially since I can “fix it later.”

Faith & Film, Part 1

It may be all coincidental, or it may be God, either way the results are the same.

It’s 2008, October and I haven’t given my alma mater any thought in years, but lately, the name “Bob Jones University” has been popping up in the most unlikely of places — like I said, coincidence?  Maybe it’s time for me to come clean about my time there.

1978, September – I didn’t really decide to go to Bob Jones University (I’m not sure too many kids do) it was decided for me — waaaay back before I could even hold a #2 pencil.  Somewhere, in my parents’ vast collection of family photos are shots of me, around 3 years-old wearing a Bob Jones University sweatshirt.  Everyone I knew went there.  The majority of our guest speakers at church went there.  We heard traveling Bob Jones University music ensembles every year at church — and, sometimes, the ensemble members stayed in our house.  So, it was no surprise to me when I ended up enrolled as a 17 year-old freshman that September in 1978.  I started out majoring in Broadcast Engineering — anything and everything having to do with radio & television broadcasting but mostly it was electronics — then switched to, what BJU called “Cinema”, which was anything and everything to do with still and movie photography.

The academics, the courses of study, the hands-on experience and the teachers (with one or two exceptions) were great.  No real complaints.  My life revolved around my Cinema major — and the Cinema major revolved around Unusual Films, BJU’s film production unit.  I could draw (a little) so somehow I ended up in the animation & titling & multi-image department, laboring away in the animation room all day, creating “cels”, shooting titles, duplicating slides or creating effects for the multi-projector, multi-image shows.  I had no problem staying on the Dean’s List and I earned the limit in “co-curricular” credits (unpaid labor for Unusual Films on university projects.)  Great work, great teaching and great friends.

So — where’s the problem?

BJU Concert Center stage crew 1979

The problem was religion.  Bob Jones University believes in a literal interpretation of the Bible — word for word, cover to cover.  With that belief came a conservative, southern, Baptist perspective (not Southern Baptist, but southern, Baptist — don’t confuse the two)- short hair (for the men), long hair & skirts & hats (for the girls), no physical contact between the sexes, no interracial dating, no mixed bathing, no rock music or jazz or “Christian” rock music, drinking alcohol was evil — you get the picture.  Disobedience was considered “rebellion”, and rebellion was equal to the sin of witchcraft.  You think you could escape to the refuge and privacy of your dorm room?  Ha!  The dorm room system was set up to catch suspected rebels.  A typical dorm room consisted of a minimum of three roommates, one was designated by the university as the “spiritual leader”, also known as an APC (Assistant Prayer Captain.)  Rooms were grouped in fours with three APCs and one room containing a PC (Prayer Captain.)  The PC reported to the Hall Monitor (two on a hall), the Hall Monitors reported to the Dorm Supervisor (one per dorm) and the Dorm Supe reported to the Dean of Men.  In short, each dorm room had an embedded university snitch waiting to pounce if you showed any hint of nonconformity.

And pounce they did.  More than once I found myself down in the basement apartment of various Dorm Supervisors in, I might add, the cliche’ darkened room, with the lamp in my eyes while being interrogated as to the condition of my eternal soul.  Why?  My freshman year I refused to go on “extension” (the university’s local missionary-type out-reach program – supposedly optional for students to participate), my sophomore year I was caught listening to “unchecked” (university unapproved) music (it was “The Carpenters”), my junior year it was for “Major Horseplay” (pulled a great prank on another room -ok- I deserved that one) and my senior year…

…oh yes, my senior year…now, we have to take a slight detour and talk about The United States v. Bob Jones University , a. k. a., BJU’s long standing policy on race and interracial dating.

Faith & Film, Part 2

During my senior year, 1981-1982, Bob Jones University chapel messages shifted from the typical Biblical exhortations to providing the local or national mainstream media sound-bites defending the history and current status (i.e., the banning of interracial dating or marriage) of BJU.  It was a joke among students that the news-media cameras perched in the balcony of the Founder’s Memorial Amphitorium (FMA) stayed on just long enough to catch the Doctor’s Bob (Junior or the Third) saying something outrageous.  And the Bob’s did not disappoint.  One of my favorites was Dr. Bob III defending the interracial dating rule:

“There’s no discrimination here.  Why at Bob Jones University, whites can date whites, blacks can date blacks, brown can date browns, yellows can date yellows, greens can date greens, purples can date purples…” (laughter from the audience)

In 1980, Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan spoke from the same chapel platform used by the Doctor’s Bob in the FMA.  Reagan and Mrs. Nancy Reagan waved as they strode down Aisle 7 on their way to the pulpit. 

Ronald Reagan on the BJU campus

Reagan stopped to shake a few outreached hands of students, my hand being one of the outreached and one lucky enough to be shaken by the man BJU had pinned many hopes on.  (As an aside, during Reagan’s speech to the BJU students, faculty and staff, Nancy Reagan started coughing and couldn’t stop.  When it became apparent Mrs. Reagan couldn’t control her coughing, Dr. Bob III literally ran off the platform and brought her a glass of water.)  Reagan, of course, later went on to defeat Carter and was inaugurated in 1981 — the same day the Iranian Hostages were freed.  It was a glorious time; the man who would save us all at BJU from the evil, oppressive IRS was now the Chief Executive.

That year, 1981, BJU asked their friend, and fellow Christian, President Ronald Reagan to help grant Bob Jones University tax exempt status in spite of the IRS’s contention that the university was practicing racial discrimination.  The answer of “yes” (early 1982) was announced in chapel as a huge victory for God’s people.  Thank God that He had seen fit to intervene and defeat Satan and protect His university, BJU.

But the Reagan Administration changed their collective minds after protests and objections raised by minorities and the news-media and some of Reagan’s close advisors.  Bob Jones III called Reagan a “traitor to God’s people” and referred to Reagan’s Vice President George H. W. Bush as “a devil.”  Now, the administration at BJU felt betrayed – betrayed by a man that they had helped get elected to the highest office in the land.

Later in 1982 (more specifically, the end of March), Secretary of State, former general Alexander Haig denied a visa to Dr. Bob Jr.’s close friend, fellow preacher and BJU honorary doctoral recipient, Dr. Ian Paisley of Northern Ireland.  To say this angered Dr. Bob, Jr. would be putting it mildly — way too mildly.  On Thursday, April 1 (appropriately enough), 1982, Dr. Bob, Jr. purposely waited to speak until the news-media cameras were up and ready and all attention was focused on him before launching into what sounded like an Old Testament curse against the enemies of the children of Israel.

Greenville, SC – The Chancellor of the fundamentalist Bob Jones University has urged students to pray, that the Lord “smite” Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig, Jr. and “destroy him quickly and utterly.”

“I am going to pray that God will get rid of that man.”  At a university chapel service Thursday, Jones…described Haig as a “monster in human flesh and a demon-possessed instrument to destroy America.”

“I hope you’ll pray that the Lord will smite him, hip and thigh, bone and marrow, heart and lungs and all there is to him, that he shall destroy him quickly and utterly.”                                                           ~ from the Philadelphia Inquirer, April 3, 1982.

I slipped as low as I could in my chapel seat, hoping the sweep of the national news cameras would miss me.

A disaster in the making... Dr. Bob, Jr. speaks to a reporter.

This outburst by Dr. Bob, Jr. was reported everywhere — Al Gore hadn’t invented the internet yet — so “everywhere” meant newspapers, magazines and the nightly news.  We had reporters from all outlets invading the campus.  Students were under orders not to speak to any reporters but to direct them to the Administration Building on front campus.  Any student who violated this order would be expelled (or “shipped” as it was called) -no questions asked.  The news show Nightline was in its infancy and I remember a broadcast from the lobby of Johnson Dormitory.  There were news stories about the university’s silly demerits, dress rules, hair standards, the fence around campus, the gates locking the students in at night and, of course, the university’s policy of no interracial marriage or dating, which was the real controversy.

Needless to say there was a lot of tension, anger, paranoia and suspicion on campus.  What a wonderful learning environment!

Meanwhile, and may I say, coincidentally, the BJU film department, Unusual Films, was in the middle of shooting a Christian-themed film called Beyond the Night.  This film was about a medical doctor/missionary who spent his time in Africa ministering and healing the African Muslims that live there.  To make some of the scenes realistic, the film required a lot of black people cast as extras.  As you may have guessed, we were a little short on black people at BJU.  We bussed some in from downtown Greenville – very cooperative individuals who didn’t mind helping the university out on a film project.  We were still short.  So, many hours were spent turning dark-eyed white students into dark-skinned Africans.  (I still remember the make-up tint – “Ebony 2.”)

Part of the film required desert scenes – difficult to find in northwestern South Carolina.  Fortunately, the university owned some farmland outside of Greenville and we cleared a few fields of any plant life, then covered the fields with trucked-in sand.  My job during this location shooting was to ride a horse (“Gideon” from another BJU film, Sheffey) at a particular distance from where our cinematographer (Wade Ramsey) was set up with his Eclair NPR (French made 16mm motion picture camera).  Through the camera and at a distance, me riding the horse looked similar to a camel and its hump.  My riding the horse allowed Mr. Ramsey to set-up and frame the shot so, when the animal trainer/handler showed up with his camels, there would be less time and work in setting up the cliche’ camels-walking-through-the-desert-at-a-distance-shot.  We (the faculty film crew and we eager film students) were on location out at the BJU farm for the better part of a week that April in 1982.  The weather was good, my senior film project was wrapping up, my grades were good (Dean’s List again) and, the best part, I was just three weeks from graduation.

What could go wrong?

Faith & Film, Part 3

Early April, 1982.  I’m a senior Cinema Major at Bob Jones University, three weeks from graduation.  Senior project on schedule (a film called CarTalk- long before “Click & Clack” on NPR had a show by the same name), grades good enough for the Dean’s List, plenty of cash (thanks to a part-time job off campus at Eckerd’s Drugs in McAllister Square) and I’m behind my 1977 model Brother electric typewriter putting together a resume’ for post-graduation…

…and I begin to consider the nationwide – no – worldwide attention the behavior and comments by the Chancellor and the President of Bob Jones University have garnered and I begin to worry…

Oh, yeah — four years plus into a BS degree at BJU and NOW I begin to worry!

I look at that line on my resume’, “EDUCATION: BS, 1982, Bob Jones University, Greenville, SC” and all I can hear is, “I hope you pray that the Lord will smite him, hip and thigh, bone and marrow,…demon-possessed…monster in human flesh…yadda, yadda, yadda…”

…and no one will hire me.  I’m unemployable because I went to a bigoted, southern, fundamentalist, religious, wack-o, nut-case, crazoid school!  Who would want to hire a cinema graduate of BJU — especially in the film production world?!  I’ve wasted four years of my life!  AAAAAhhhg!

Shooting EPT in the FMA

I was very down, depressed, so naturally I redoubled my efforts to make this education count for something.  I began working longer and longer periods at Unusual Films and at my part-time job at Eckerd’s.  I spent as little time as possible in my dorm room.  The more I stayed busy, the less depressed I became.  There were several nights where I worked through the night, sleeping in front of a machine or in my car or, in one case, on a light-table in the Animation Room.  That caught up with me in the form of 25 demerits and a scolding about my frizzy, long hair.  “Get it cut and don’t use your work at Unusual Films as an excuse!”  So, I got my hair cut – really short (thanks, Dave Nelson at “Style King”) – what was I going to do?  Graduation was so close I could smell it.

Turned out it didn’t matter what I did — the fix was in.

I never fit in at Bob Jones University.  I was never groomed properly — my hair was frizzy, curly, wind-blown and askew.  My clothes tended to be a mixture of corduroy and flannel shirts with brown, scuffed suede shoes.  My face was pale, freckled.  My eyes blue, unsure.  I certainly didn’t look like a Christian.  Not like all of those Christians in the Bob Jones University promotional material.  But it went deeper than that.  I was never a “Bo Jo” (a gung-ho, hard-core, pro-BJU person) on the inside.  Their positions on race and racial relations made me cringe.  So many times I remember sitting in chapel or in church and literally grimacing at some of the political and racial remarks made by the son of our esteemed founder Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. who died in 1968.  But I was polite, I worked hard, had a good memory and I could take a good test, so the administration at BJU let me stay…

…until they determined that I as a potential graduate of Bob Jones University was “not in keeping with the spirit of this institution.”

Friday, April 23, 1982.  The weather in the up-state was beautiful after a cold start – 75 degrees and partly cloudy.  Rain was forecast for the following Monday, but the weekend was looking beautiful.  The day before, Thursday, April 22, I had worked on location all day at the BJU farm for the Unusual Films Christian film Beyond the Night (riding a horse and pretending to be a camel – see Faith & Film, Part 2).  That night of April 22, I had been in bed about 30 minutes when I was told to get out of bed and go to the basement apartment of the Dorm Supervisor, a Mr. Doug Sprunger.  Sprunger was a small man with dark hair and beady dark eyes.  The eyes were not warm or “smiling”, but were cold and penetrating.  He sat me down around a small table and with my sophomore PC (James Witt of Delaware, Ohio) looking on, Sprunger began to question me about my awful and most un-BJU-like spiritual condition.  I was unmoved.  I thought the whole episode was ridiculous and besides, I was graduating in a couple of weeks…

10:53 AM the next day, April 23, 1982.  Chapel.  My BJU ID card was pulled by a hall monitor positioned just outside the aisle entry point by my assigned seat in the Founder’s Memorial Amphitorium (FMA).  My hair didn’t “check”, the monitor said.  Impossible, I thought.  I just had it cut on April 15th.  Even my frizzy, curly hair doesn’t grow that fast!

11:47 AM – after chapel.  Lunch.  But I couldn’t go to lunch without my BJU ID card.  So, in order to get my ID card back, I had to go to the Dean of Men’s office.  The Dean of Men in April of 1982 was a man named Tony Miller.  On this particular day, April 23, 1982, he hadn’t been on the job a year yet after taking over from retiring Dean of Men, Dr. William Liverman.  I didn’t know much about Tony Miller – other than he was the man who came and lectured us guys about the evils of masturbation – “Mr. M” is what I called him — but the “M” didn’t stand for Miller.  Tony Miller looked at me, said something about my hair being too long and I told him I had just had it cut and for the last three days I had been working on a film for the university and had not had the opportunity to get my hair looked at again –

It didn’t matter.  Up to that point I had never seen Tony Miller angry.  I was told to go into his office and wait.  I did.  (What choice did I have?  I was hungry and needed my ID card to eat.)  I was there about a half hour when Miller and Mr. Jim Berg, Dean of Students entered the office.

Let me just give you some Tony Miller quotes:

• “Why should we keep you in school another day?”
• “You are an infection.  An infection to the Body of Christ”
• “You are a subtle rebel”
• “You will feel remorse.” 
• “We don’t hate you, but we are going to humiliate you as much as possible.”

I was expelled — or in the BJU lingo, “shipped.”  None of the above quotes were included in my official college records.  The letter to my parents said I was expelled for three reasons:

1. Your son said, “That sticks out like a turd in a punch bowl.”  This is vulgar and makes a mockery of sin.
2. Also stated that, “BJU sure will be bad to have on my resume’ since Dr. Bob made those dumb comments about Alexander Haig and the government.”  This shows no loyalty to the institution.
3. Made a derogatory comment about university Vespers.  This is not in keeping with the spirit of this Christian institution.

After being expelled, I was assigned a Hall Monitor to accompany me while I packed my bags.  This guy, Tom Pennington from Mobile, Alabama, was supposed to keep me from harming myself or others.  All I wanted to do was pack my booger green 1974 Ford Galaxie 500 and get the hell off campus.

And that’s exactly what I did.

For the first time I was proud that I was not a “Bo Jo.”

Oh, but there’s more…

Faith & Film, Part 4

April 23, 1982, late afternoon – On the campus of the “Fortress of Faith”, Bob Jones University, a memo from the Dean of Men’s Office is dictated to the secretarial pool (no such thing as email, remember?) located deep in the bowels of the Administration Building.  This voice memo is listened to by one of the typists, hired because of her trustworthiness and discretion, and promptly and uneventfully transcribed to the appropriate color of paper for memos of this sort.  The carbon is pulled, torn in two and multiple copies of the dictated memo are on their way; one to the Welcome Center (where the Office of Campus Security is located) and the other…to the Unusual Films Photo Lab.

Huh?  The Photo Lab?

That’s right.  You see, when a BJU student is expelled, the on-campus security personnel are notified that the expelled student is now persona non grata — banned from being on campus — for any reason.  Not even to see family members.  So in order to recognized the now banned student…yes, you get it now.  The Photo Lab.

Campus mail drops off the late afternoon mail at the Photo Lab where Miss Alice Cromley, BJU employee for–forever, collects the mail and gives the memo high priority.  The student’s name and BJU student ID number are noted and one of the trusted staff Photo Lab employees goes to the shelves where the rolls of long roll, 70mm, Kodak Vericolor negatives are stored.  Matching the student name/number up with a roll and camera card number, the staff photo technician pulls the appropriate can of film from the shelf.  Walking to a light table positioned under to sets of opposing rewinds, he loads the film and rolls to the correct camera card number.  There will be a minimum of three poses to choose from, but the one the photo-lab worker is interested in is the center pose – the pose with the student directly facing the camera.  Not damaging or cutting the roll, the lab tech removes it from the rewinds and goes into the darkroom.  In the dim glow of the overhead orange-ish safe-lights, he loads the film into a long roll neg-holder and slides it into the enlarger.  Within minutes several wallet-sized (3″x5″) black and white prints are made and after drying, sent to Campus Security, Administration and one print is pasted into a large black binder called “The Honor Roll” by the faculty/staff Photo Lab employees.

By 5:00 PM, Eastern Time, April 23, 1982, a student, in this case, me, a senior who had spent three weeks short of four years (plus one semester in summer school) is gone.  His picture at the Welcome Center to prohibit any re-entry onto the BJU campus, Campus Security notified, alerted and any remnants of the expelled student’s presence ex-sponged.

If it were only that easy to expell BJU and their warped brand of fundamentalism from my mind…

…and we continue…

Faith & Film, Part 5 (Black & White)

What role did the campus-wide atmosphere of paranoia, suspicion and anger play in my expulsion?  Truth is, I’ll never really know.  I do know, however, that there was a tremendous “purge” of undesirable students during the first half of Tony Miller’s (Dean of Men) regime.  We had “hall meetings”  in every dormitory, male dorms and female dorms, encouraging us to “turn in” students that violated any  university policy, whether it be a minor offense, such as dress code violations, to serious offenses like drinking alcohol anywhere.  Also, if you where aware of another student violating the rules and said nothing, if the violator was caught and “turned you in”, you received the same punishment – even if it was expulsion.  This explains why certain dormitories lost so many students, entire rooms were vacant (i.e., Johnson Dorm early 1982.)  Some rooms lost every student but one – why?  Because “the one” that stayed was “the one” who turned in his/her roommates to avoid possible punishment of him/her self.

Even discussing the merits of the university’s policies on race, religion or politics was off limits.  Saying out loud that you disagreed with the stance BJU took on a certain issue was punishable as “insubordination” and came with 50 demerits (75 demerits got you “campused”- prohibited from leaving the campus grounds, 150 demerits got you expelled.)  There were a lot of students that couldn’t afford the 50 demerits, so if university administration policy was discussed, it was sotto voce  and with only trusted, proven comrades.  To say that Bob Jones University was anxious to expel those students who didn’t tow the university line was an understatement.

Inside the FMA - stand up and be counted!

On several occasions in 1981 and 1982, the assembled faculty, staff and student body was asked to “stand with the university” through its time of persecution by the evil government of the United States and the oppressive Internal Revenue Service.  When they said “stand” they meant stand- get up out of your Amphitorium seat and stand !  When I was present at these assemblies or services (I missed some because of Unusual Films work and working off-campus) I didn’t stand because I did not agree with the policies.  It was my opinion (still is my opinion) that BJU and in particular, Dr. Bob Jones, Jr., was unnecessarily provoking the IRS and the U.S. government.  Was my remaining seated during these “stand up” requests noted by the university administration?  All I can say is I looked very conspicuous remaining seated while all around me students were standing.

Here’s some background; I’m a white Anglo-Saxon protestant from rural central Illinois.  The county I lived in had a total population of around 10,000 people, all of which were various forms of white – English, Irish, Scot, German, French, Dutch, Swede and for spice, Polish.  I was a minority in my public high school, however; I was one of the few Protestants eating fish on Fridays and not crossing myself before chowing down.  My experience with African-Americans was, well, zero.  Until I attended BJU, I’d never met a black person.

My first personal experience with open racism was at BJU.  Oh, I had seen it on TV – I knew what racism was, we touched on it in grade school (this was during the Johnson and Nixon years) – I knew the subject, but I had never seen racism in action, until I made my residence in South Carolina at a university that until 1971 would not allow African-Americans enrollment.  More than once and from the pulpit in the FMA no less, I heard how black folks were “happier when they could serve”, how dark skinned people were the product of the “sin of Ham” (one of Noah’s sons – look it up), and how God made the races separate for a reason and the races should stay separate.  (Those of you raised in Independent Fundamental Churches know what I’m talking about.)  This was not just an attitude of racism, this was taught as doctrine  with actual Scripture to back it up with real Bible verses.  These were doctrines upon which Bob Jones College was formed and these were the doctrines that remained unchanged as BJC became BJU.  Giving out honorary doctorates to Georgia Governor Lester Maddox, Alabama Governor George Wallace, South Carolina Senator and father of the segregationist “Dixie-crats” (oh, and a mixed-race love child) StromThurmond (whose memorial eulogy led to the downfall of Mississippi Senator Trent Lott) only proves the fact that Bob Jones, et. al. and Bob Jones University approved of the strict separation of the races and based this approval on the inspired Word of God.

If you look at old Bob Jones, Sr. material, it’s loaded with the usual references to gambling, drinking, fornicating, etc., but one noticeable addition was “jazz” and “dancing.”  Jazz, Blues and later, Rock, Disco, Hip-Hop and Rap were all deemed “music of Satan.”  (One faculty member of Bob Jones University made a healthy income preaching, writing and recording the evils of rock music with his “The Big Beat” series – Dr. Frank Garlock.)  The commonality of this “music of Satan” was that it was all derived from African and African-American origins.  This was music white Christian kids should not listen to – certainly not BJU students!  That racist backlash against beat-driven music can still be found today (2008) at BJU.

Intermarriage and interracial dating, in the eyes of BJU, was far more damaging than listening to “Satan’s music.”  Listening to unchecked/unapproved music would only get you 50 demerits (max) while interracial dating or marriage would get you expelled.

Upon enrollment at BJU, you had to declare your race on a card given out by the Dean of Men or Women.  Once you declared your race, that was the race of the opposite sex you were allowed to date.  I declared “white”, so I get all of the “white” girls.  My roommate my sophomore year, a guy named Jim Fall, was of mixed race – his father was white, his mother Japanese.  Jim looked Asian, but he declared “white” – why?  Hey, Jim was no fool.  There were far more white girls than Asian girls.  But — had Jim been so unwise to date an Asian girl, he would have been expelled because he had declared “white.”

It was at BJU I learned a different version to “Jesus Loves the Little Children.”  It was told to me as a joke.  It goes: “Jesus loves the little children, All the children of the world.  Red and yellow, mostly White – they are precious in His sight.  Jesus loves the little children of the world.”

And the beat goes on — next time…

Faith & Film, Part 6 (Ivory & Ivory)

Nearly six months after my expulsion, October 12, 1982, Bob Jones University argued its case in front of the Supreme Court.  BJU’s case was group together with Goldsboro Christian Schools, Inc. or Goldsboro, North Carolina.  Goldsboro, et. al., had a strict segregationist policy based on Biblical interpretation; races remaining separate and being not “unequally yoked.”  The Goldsboro private Christian schools would only accept Caucasians, but on occasion did accept students from a mixed race background where one parent was Caucasian.  The Powers at BJU cringed at being heard together with Goldsboro, but if you look at Goldsboro’s policies, they were the same as Bob Jones University’s were from 1927 to 1971.  This, of course, is the reason the high court lumped the two educational entities together.  Bob Jones University had moderated their policies somewhat (accepting African-Americans post-1971 BUT only if the African-American student was married – singles were not allowed.)  Goldsboro, it could be argued, held true to its Biblical convictions, or in other words, remained the truer representative of the Independent Fundamentalist Christian attitude toward racial separation.

One year, one month and one day after my being “shipped”, the Supreme Court handed down its ruling against Bob Jones University and Goldsboro Christian Schools, Inc.

So, the university lost its tax exempt status – but the ban on interracial dating and marriage remained.  After all, this rule, this ban, was based on Biblical convictions and God-given, God-breathed  Scripture.

Or was it?

Dr. Bob III, enforcer of meaningless policies

Fast forward to the year 2000, the month of March.  Dr. Bob Jones the Third was the the guest on CNN’s”Larry King Live” and the university was once again part of another controversy.  This time it wasn’t Ronald Reagan, but a son of “the Devil”, Presidential candidate George W. Bush, who spoke at BJU on February 2 (Groundhog Day), 2000.  A fellow Republican, also running for President, Senator John McCain or Arizona, accused Governor Bush of ”pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance.”  McCain said. “They [institutions like Bob Jones University & Dr. Bob Jones III] are corrupting influences on religion and politics, and those who practice them in the name of religion or in the name of the Republican Party or in the name of America shame our faith, our party and our country.” [The New York Times, February 29, 2000]

(Senator McCain – let me tell you something.  If I had said such a thing while enrolled at BJU, I would have been expelled and all those who heard me and didn’t “turn me in” would have been expelled.  Truth is, many students did  say such a thing and they were immediately “shipped” (no matter where they were in their academic career) and not allowed to return to campus for any reason.)

March 3, 2000.  BJU President Dr. Bob III, son of Dr. “smite them hip & thigh” Bob Jones, Jr., appears across the table from Larry King on CNN.

“We don’t have to have that rule. In fact, as of today, we have dropped the rule,” Dr. Bob said.  He went on to say the policy “is meaningless to us”… “Our concern for the school’s broader usefulness is greater to us than a rule we never talk about,” he said.  “We can’t back it up with a verse in the Bible.”

When I heard Dr. Bob say what I have quoted above (thanks to the CNN archives & transcripts of “Larry King Live”) I immediately started composing a letter directly to him and the administration of Bob Jones University asking for my senior year tuition money back.

Why?  Because in defense of this “meaningless” policy, he and his father (Bob Jones, Jr.) created an environment of fear, paranoia, suspicion, distrust and anger.  They, the Drs. Bob, also administered and set up a network of informants, turning fellow students on each other all in the name of “standing with the university.”  Education died to preserve the name and lifestyle of the Joneses. This atmosphere they and the administration created resulted in the expulsion of not just me, but literally, hundredsof students – all of which deserve their tuition money back.  How many students declared aloud that there was no Scripture to back up the university’s stance on interracial marriage and were expelled?  (I know of a handful, but BJU changed their records to show they were expelled for reasons other than disagreements on policy.)

This change in policy, removing a “meaningless” rule that was “never talk[ed] about,” makes me wonder what else is “meaningless” at Bob Jones University?  What other useless policies do they presently enforce that have no basis in Scripture?  How much is traditional, southern, independent, fundamentalist dogma and how much is Truth?

We’ve only just begun (The Carpenters, 1969) — to pull back the curtain…

Faith & Film, Part 7 (Shock & Awe)

Dr. Bob Jones III, now Chancellor of Bob Jones University, made these comments about his own comments to a reporter from The Nation :

“The statement attributed to me in The Nation  magazine is essentially correct.  Furthermore, it was made out of irritation and as an element of intended shock for the interviewer, whom I couldn’t stand.  It was intended to raise his eyebrows and irritate him.”  (dated, 11-24-1986, www.please-reconcile.com)

Statements made “out of irritation” intended for “shock” value and to “raise…eyebrows” serve only one purpose: to draw attention to the one making such remarks.  This is certainly not the behavior of a so-called “Man of God” – not even the behavior of a pagan secularist who may be the president of a liberal, secular university somewhere.  People in positions of power are not allowed to spout off in this manner – certainly not without consequences.

Unfortunately, it was and is the alumni and students who suffer the consequences.  We are the ones during job interviews (if we get that far) who have to “explain” our degree from Bob Jones University…(“Isn’t that the place that — “)  Uh, yeah, that’s the place, you blush, grimace and shift in your seat, wondering if the guy thinks your a bigot…

It’s not Jesus Christ we’re ashamed of — it’s the lack of Jesus Christ that makes us ashamed.

Christ, during His brief time here on earth, criticized only one group of people, and it wasn’t the racially impure Samaritans, the pagan Greeks or the tyrannical Romans — it was the religious leaders of His day.

My whole point in re-telling some of the events surrounding my expulsion from BJU is to demonstrate that those in charge of the university at that time had “poisoned the well” – they made it impossible for a normal, free-thinking, adult student to complete his education.  For that, Dr. Bob Jones III (missed my opportunity with Junior), Dean of Men Tony Miller, Dean of Students Jim Berg and last, and certainly least, Johnson Dorm Supervisor Doug Sprunger owe me, not just an apology – oh no – they owe me reparations.

 I want a refund on my 1981 – 82 senior year.

 A check would be fine.

Faith & Film, la fin (Questions)

Dr. Bob Jones III, Spring 1993

It’s a shame that southern independent fundamentalist religious tradition had to get in the way of what could have been a great education.  But the Drs. Bob decided that education was not the primary goal of attending Bob Jones University.  Political and religious indoctrination was.  Disagree (a.ka., “gripe”) and you will be expelled.  Ask questions and, eventually, you will be removed from the BJU student body, as I was.  (Remember, Dean of Men Tony Miller referred to me as “a cancer on the Body of Christ” – the “Body of Christ” he was referring to was the Student Body of BJU.)  Bob Jones University didn’t teach us to think, it told us what to think and did it did so back up by the Authority of the Scriptures and the Sovereignty of Almighty God.

Who are you to question us?

It’s puzzling to me that there were many good teachers at BJU, trained in secular universities, with advanced degrees from major secular colleges & universities.  How they could stand to work in this environment and do such a good job is a conundrum.  In my Bible classes, and there were many required, one teacher was particularly good, Dr. Charles Smith.  I really like this man and looked forward to hearing him teach or preach, he did both.  A few years ago I found out that Dr. Smith was asked to leave the university.  What a shame.  Like me, I guess they considered him a “cancer” and removed him from “the Body.”

But my major was not Bible, it was Cinema.  The Cinema Department (Unusual Films) was located in the back of the Rodeheaver Auditorium and consisted of a huge sound-stage, workshops, film storage, animation & camera rooms and three floors of offices, editing room, dubbing theatre and a classroom.  As a cinema or film major, we students were considered living “on the edge” because going to see an actual film in an actual theatre in Greenville (or anywhere else) would get a student expelled.  We would read American Cinematographer and other magazines and plan on how to see the films written about without getting caught.  It was tricky — we lost a lot of good people…

In charge of the Cinema Department was Dr. Katherine Stenholm.  She was assigned the task of starting the Bob Jones University Film Department by ol’ Dr. Bob, Sr. way back in the very late 1940’s.  Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. was convinced that one great way to win “souls for Jesus” was to harness the power and persuasive ability of motion pictures.  Katherine or “Kitty” (I only knew her as Mrs. or Dr. Stenholm), a speech teacher and stage actress, was sent to USC to study film.  While in California, she became friends with some well-known and powerful Hollywood businessman, cinematographers, directors, and editors.

"Wine of Morning" in production at BJU Unusual Films soundstage

 

Upon her return to BJU in the early 1950’s, she started making ”sermon films” with the preaching illustrations dramatized on film.  In 1955, her film, based on a novel by Bob Jones, Jr., Wine of Morning, earned her the keynote address at that year’s film festival in Cannes.  (Yes, that Cannes.)  She went on to direct several full-length motion pictures for Unusual Films…if you grew up in an Independent Fundamental Christian church, you’ve probably seen at least one of them during a New Years Eve “Watch Night Service”….Red Runs the River, Flame in the Wind, Sheffey, Beyond the Night (it’s full length in the “director’s cut”) and, sadly, her last, The Printing.  (I’m leaving out all of the BJU promotional films.)  What I’m trying to say is that Dr. Stenholm knew her stuff.  I’m convinced if she had stayed in Hollywood she could have held her own with the best of them.  But Hollywood was no place for Katherine Stenholm and, besides, a female director in the early 1950’s?  Not likely.

"Stage Coach" (WB) and "Red Runs the River" (BJU - UF)

Dr. Stenholm taught directing classes – Directing I and Directing II, senior level classes.  I wasn’t in her class a week when I realized that I was not cut out to be a director.  Oh, I passed the class with A’s and B’s, but I was a technician, not a director.  I was more interested in shutter angles, inverse square law, reciprocity failure and push/pull processing than the artsy-fartsy stuff Dr. Stenholm was talking about.  She had a habit of scrunching her face up and closing her eyes when she was making a point.  To emphasize the point she would lean forward and give you a penetrating stare as though that would help us to understand.  That stare was intimidating.

Of all the hours in her classes, I remember three incidents.  The first was her repeatedly quoting Vladimir Ilyich Lenin: “the motion picture is the greatest medium of control over the masses.  It is our task to take it in hand.”  The first time that quote appears in my notes is September 18, 1981, and it repeatedly shows up.

The second is watching twice, maybe three times, Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia  and Triumph des Willens.  Even I, a cold-hearted technician was struck by the power and beauty of the editing, the camera angles & movement, the stark contrast of the black & white images.  It was all kind of weird and creepy watching beautiful films made during the Nazi era in Germany and modeling our approach to “winning souls for Christ” on a quote by Vladimir Lenin.  To be honest, I left Directing I and II more confused than I was when I went in.

The third incident was when I made a major, major mistake — in Directing Class I asked a question of Dr. Stenholm…the date, according to my old notes, was January 15, 1982…I asked a question something similar to this:

“Dr. Stenholm, all of this persuasion and speaking directly to the mind is great, but when it comes to Biblical salvation, I don’t understand how you can be sure you’re reaching a soul for Christ or just touching someone’s natural emotions — they’re just moved to tears because Sheffey gave Gideon away or because Sheffey died — that’s just emotions, there’s no conviction there — it doesn’t go to all the way to the soul.”

Ok – I realize I am an idiot.  I just criticized the Director of Unusual Films’ life work — and Dr. Stenholm let me know that.  She never answered the question, but, wow, was she offended.  Things weren’t the same after that – not that Dr. Stenholm treated me any differently – I just didn’t feel the same about using film as a “ministry” — I still don’t.  I still think it’s a waste of time.  (You can show me Facing the Giants  a hundred times and I’m still just glad that the foorball team won.)  That was January, 1982.  By the end of April, 1982, I was expelled.  (I always thought Unusual Films should’ve went to bat for me, but they chose not to.)

In my mind I assumed that cinema would be the one place you could question and analyze motive and results, but, like everything else at BJU, I realized I was not allowed to “pull back the curtain” and see how or if this stuff is working or not.

In a wider sense I’ve discovered that this attitude of “not questioning” or not “griping” is contrary to the whole Christian agenda.  It is the nature of belief, of faith, not to examine too closely the object of belief lest you find a flaw or two or three, and give up the belief entirely.

If I’ve learned anything about faith and film it is that they both operate on the same principle – suspension of belief.  Ignore what you know to be real and true, what your mind and your senses tell you actually exist, and don’t question what you are told, what you are taught, what you are given to read and what you are shown.

Sex in the Sects

A Beka Book Publications of Pensacola, Florida publishes Christian textbooks for private Christian schools and home-schoolers.  Recently I came across the A Beka Book textbook for sex education for children between the ages of 12 and 17 — Seventh Grade through High School age — the book’s title is Sex, Love & Romance.

This book claims as its purpose to “teach sex education from the Bible.”  Well, based upon my knowledge of the Bible and the Bible’s rather lurid stories of rape, incest, prostitution and polygamy, I was intrigued enough to open this Bible-based-sex-instruction-textbook and read it for myself.

The book is authored by Dr. Hugh F. Pyle, 1989 and was updated in 2004.  Dr. Pyle, as it turns out, is an evangelist (a traveling minister) and occasional author of books for adults and children.  From Dr. Pyle’s bio on his website:

“He has often been a featured speaker at such schools as Pensacola Christian College [home of A Beka Book Publications],…Bob Jones University,…and others, in addition to addressing many Pastor’s Conferences and great numbers of Christian High Schools across the nation.  Dr. Pyle…writes a regular “News & Views” column for the Sword of the Lord.  He is also known for his “Good Ship Courtship” talks to teens…”

Sex, Love & Romance was edited by Beka Horton who is the wife of the President and Founder of Pensacola Christian College and the namesake of “A Beka Books.”  My feeling is that we all can assume that these folks, Pyle and Horton, have earned their Fundamentalist Christian street ”cred.”

So, let’s open the book, shall we?

Chapter 7, “Finding the Right Girl”, p. 17 — “You’ll be smart to find a girl who knows her way around the kitchen and is interested in cooking, homemaking, and serving. You and your children are going to need that kind of a girl. Today many a young woman has a career, pleasure, and dollar signs in front of her eyes; such modern “gold diggers” will sadly disappoint a young man who wants a real wife to make a happy home!”

Chapter 8, “Boys and Girls are Different”, p. 19 — “…the only women you would ever see wearing men’s clothes in public would be women of the street. The cheap harlot or dance hall floozy might so dress. The only possible exception would have been farm women or others who had outdoor work to do in bad weather. Even then, they would dress like a lady when they went out in public.”

Chapter 16, Dancing and Sex, p. 42 — “The embrace of the dance, the closeness of the bodies (or the constant twisting, shaking, and writhing of the bodies) cannot but arouse a person and the dancing partner. The body’s response to this type of physical stimulus is normal — but not designed to occur outside the marriage relationship.”

On Homosexuals….

p. 39 — “God is merciful. To deter people from sin, He [God] has in these last days visited the lands that have many sodomites with a horrible plague or pestilence called AIDS. The disease is worse than other forms of VD (like syphillis or herpes) because, as far as we know, it is not only incurable but fatal!”

p. 130 — “…– that is, in their own lives and bodies they suffer frightening sexually related diseases. The ‘gays’ are no longer gay!”

p. 39 — “As homosexuals have come ‘out of the closet’ (as they put it) and are marching, protesting, and demanding that their wicked and perverse life styles be accepted, more and more of them have been stricken with AIDS.”

On Prostitution and Cosmetics…

p. 108 — “Harlotry takes many forms. It does not have to be a professional harlot. It may be a miserable, unhappy wife or one who is looking for some excitement while her husband is away.”

p. 91 — “Those who practice pagan religions have been noted for painted faces. Heathen natives around pagan campfires usually streak their faces with gaudy paint. Harlots have usually been marked by the overpainting of their faces.  … it is unlikely that the Lord is pleased with one of His own dear children spreading on gaudy paint until she looks like an imitation of Jezebel.”

On Interracial Marriage / Inter-Faith Marriage…

p. 54 — “‘What communion hath light with darkness ?’ God asks in 2Cor. 6:14. Someday when you begin to look for a mate, look in your ‘own tribe.’”

A reminder that these are actual quotes from the book.  The book they recommend for 12 year-olds to start reading.  There is no discussion about actual “sex” – you know, how babies are made, etc.  The discussion centers around Fundamentalist Christian behavior – and, typically, female behavior.  This is the kind of sexual rhetoric you would expect from an author who holds a degree in Divinity instead of Medicine.

Oh, one more thing, isn’t the title backwards?  Instead of Sex, Love & Romance, shouldn’t the “romance” come first?

Guess it doesn’t have to…(wink, wink, nudge, nudge)

 

 

 

 

Apocalypse-a-palooza

I’m seeing a lot of signs lately — no, not those  kind of signs — actual signs, along the road, on billboards, on churches announcing an up-coming “Prophecy Conference”, or wording very close to that.  Is this a seasonal thing?  Do churches have these kind of conferences around Thanksgiving or Christmas?  Or is the up-tick in prophetic conferences a result of our country’s current environment?  (economic woes, wars & rumors of more wars, new leadership in Washington, etc.)

Hopefully this isn’t a case of churches taking advantage of the fear and uncertainty in peoples lives to bump-up the number of attendees, not to mention the filling of the church coffers.  I once heard a pastor say that if church attendance is down, hold a prophecy conference.  Eschatology, the study of future events, has always been a good draw, but more so when times are tough, uncertain or both.

Unfortunately we see far too many ministers (preachers, pastors, Bible-teachers, etc.) that capitalize on this fear and curiosity of the unknown future.  Most of them say that the future is not unknown, but completely knowable and laid out before us in the Bible, if only we would read it and believe.  Of course, they have all of the answers on their TV shows, in their books, on their DVD’s — and you too can have all of the answers for a small donation or love offering…  How many careers have been built on Bible Prophesy?

Look at the author of the Left Behind  series, Tim LaHaye.  Before co-authoring this prophetic, science-fiction series, he was best known in Christian circles during the late-1970’s and early-1980’s, for two books:  The Act of Marriage (sex book for married Christians) and the Spirit Controlled Temperament (personality analysis).  By 1995, five years before the dreaded “Y2K”, LaHaye (and co-author Jerry Jenkins) introduced the world to what would become Volume 1 of the Left Behind  series, earning LaHaye recognition and millions, movie rights, video game royalties and his own prophecy curriculum.  The whole series of Left Behind books are based primarily on the typical, traditional Baptist interpretation of the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the final book in the Christian New Testament.

Here’s the view in a nutshell:

1. As we approach “the end of the age”, evil will dominate the earth and knowledge will expand.
2. The True Church (Christians) are taken into Heaven (“raptured”) leaving the wicked behind.
3. Thus begins “The Tribulation Period” – Seven years – 3.5 years of peace, 3.5 years of hell.
4. The “Anti-Christ” (or The Beast) will arise, unite the earth as one, and rule in peace for 3.5 years.
5. At the end of the 3.5 years, the Anti-Christ will declare war on all Christians & Jews seeking to annihilate them forever.
6. At the same time, God in Heaven is judging the earth, pouring out His wrath in the form of plagues, natural disasters, disease, etc., only those who have not worshipped the Beast (or taken his “Mark”)shall be spared.
7. Culminates in one epic battle in the valley of Megiddo (The Battle of Armageddon) where the Anti-Christ declares war on God…
8. …Anti-Christ loses and he is thrown into hell along with his followers.  God wins.
9. Jesus sets up His One-Thousand-Year-Kingdom (“The Millennial Kingdom”) and rules the earth.
10. The “Curse” is lifted, the earth prospers - Satan pops up at the end of the 1000 years, but, Satan is quickly dispatched and is cast into the Lake of Fire (along with the Demons) forever and ever.

 One little problem — this is just one  interpretation of what is admittedly very bizarre text written nearly 2000 years ago, allegedly by a 85 to 90 year-old man (“John”) who may have been boiled in oil and exiled alone to a remote island.  This view of the Pre-Millennial Rapture is taught as absolute truth  in churches all across the USA.  The pervasiveness of the Left Behind  books certainly haven’t helped.  This particular Pre-Millennial view is so entrenched that legitimate, opposing viewpoints are considered ungodly or even heretical.

Now the facts.

The Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ (or more commonly known as Revelation or, improperly as Revelations) is just one of many books or letters written in an apocalyptic style.  And it is a style – it follows a pattern and normally ends with a battle between Good (or Light) and Evil (Darkness) with Good winning, or course.  And with Evil/Darkness defeated only peace and happiness remains.  Sound familiar?

And I heard a voice saying to me: Hear, righteous John. Then shall appear the denier, and he who is set apart in the darkness, who is called Antichrist. And again I said: Lord, reveal to me what he is like. And I heard a voice saying to me: The appearance of his face is dusky; the hairs of his head are sharp, like darts; his eyebrows like a wild beast’s… ~ Revelation of St. John 

Lord, it is good for man not to have been born. Woe to the human race then, when Thou shall come to judgment! And I said to the Lord: Lord, why hast Thou created man, and delivered him up to judgment? And God said, with a lofty proclamation: I will not by any means have mercy on those who transgress my covenant. And the prophet said Lord, where is Thy goodness? And God said: I have prepared all things for man’s sake, and man does not keep my commandments… ~ Revelation of Esdras

And I saw the murderers and them that were consenting to them cast into a strait place full of evil, creeping things, and smitten by those beasts, and so turning themselves about in that torment. And upon them were set worms like clouds of darkness. And the souls of them that were murdered stood and looked upon the torment of those murderers and said: O God, righteous is thy judgement… ~ Apocalypse of Peter

And the angel answered and said unto me: This it is, and these are they that do hurt from morning until evening. And I looked, and saw a great cloud of fire spread over the whole world, and said unto the angel: What is this, Lord? And he said to me: This is the unrighteousness that is mingled by the princes of sinners… ~ Apocalypse of Paul

But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it , and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey… ~ Revelation of Jesus Christ

The first four quotes are from books that are not in the Bible (apocrypha) — the last quote is from Revelation in the Christian New Testament.  If I had not footnoted these quotes, could you tell the difference?  The difference is that Revelation was voted in and out of the Biblical Canon by various church councils between A.D. 325 and 400.  Early Lutheran Bibles (A.D. 1622 ed.) relegated Revelation to a special appendix with the comment by Luther, “I can discover no trace that it is established by the Holy Spirit.”  Calvin and Erasmus also rejected Revelation.  Rejecting or at least relegating Revelation to being allegorical or even some kind of poetic flight of fancy puts you in good company – not among the heretics.

Got Apocalypse?

So, this morning, I’m minding my own business, enjoying my usual cup of Zabar’s coffee, when a commercial rudely interrupted the local morning news & weather.  Out of habit I began flipping through the channels looking for news or weather, anything but another commercial…

…and it happened again.  I get some TV preacher standing in front of a giant cyclorama covered with multicolored lines, arrows, circles, ovals — some overlapping with pictures and more circles and arrows…

Another TV Prophet, another End Time Pimp, spouting off about beasts and horseman, about plagues and famine, about DVD’s and books.

Revelation  strikes again.

A Rapture tract, c.1995

Listen, you are not an ignorant boob if you believe this stuff – it’s very interesting, very intriguing, very scary and these Prophecy Preachers can be very persuasive, very compelling.  Unlike the TV Prophets, I am not speaking to you from higher ground or because I hear God whisper in my ear or because when I was a teenager I had a vision and wrestled with some evil spirits (a’ la, Perry Stone).  I’m appealing to your reason, your logic, your mind — it’s done so much for you, why corrupt it now?

Look at the source material for these Prophets; primarily it’s the Book of the Revelation.

I’ve already discussed how Revelation was just one of many apocalyptic books written in an apocalyptic style.  And how Revelation was kicked in and out of the Biblical Canon over the centuries since its authorship, but let’s look at the structure and contents of the book.

1. The first 3 chapters are to real churches, with real people inhabiting actual areas of Asia Minor – you can go there and see the ruins of the ancient cities – but, starting in Chapter 4, Revelation goes into fantasy land.  It’s as if someone wrote the churches in Asia Minor, then added on the rest.

2. Authorship – the book is assumed to be written by John the Apostle, the same disciple of Christ that chronicled the Gospel of John  and the epistles, First, Second  and Third John.  If John wrote Revelation, it was after he had been tortured (boiled in oil, according to tradition) and during his exile to the Isle of Patmos, where, apparently there was plenty of writing material exiled along with him.  Also, if you assume John was roughly the same age as Jesus, then John was anywhere between 70 and 100 years old when he wrote Revelation — elderly by any stretch of the imagination.

3. Date of writing – the date Revelation was written is extremely important.  Are you a Preterist?  A Preterist believes that Revelation was written to warn the new religion of Christianity of the impending persecution by Rome.  We know when Christian persecution began (approx. A.D. 64) so Revelation would have to have been written earlier than A.D. 64 to be a prophetic book (makes John’s torture and exile problematic).  Others believe it was written during the persecutions (“666″ being a coded form of “Nero” or the total of each Roman Numeral, IVXLCD, added together, a code for “Rome”) to predict the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70.  Most fans of the Left Behind  series would say Revelation  was written between A.D. 90 and A.D. 100, at the latest.  But, there are some indications that Revelation, or at least part of Revelation, was written later than A.D. 100.  At the end of Revelation (Chapter 22, verses 18 & 19), the writer warns future scribes or copiers of the text not to add any text or take out any text.  This is the only  place in the Bible where an author warns scribes not to change the work.  The significance of this is that changing words or adding text was not a problem until scripture began to be copied, which would assume a later date for Revelation rather than an early one.

4. Give me one prediction found in Revelation that has come true.  Not a generalized one, but a specific prediction.  Just one.  You can’t.  Jules Verne and H. G. Wells have done a better job predicting the future than Revelation.

5. There is nothing in the book of Revelation that was not already known during the First and Second Centuries, A.D.  Nothing is mentioned outside of what was the Roman Empire or “the whole world.”  If it wasn’t in the Empire, it didn’t exist.

6. Revelation  contains “one-off” statements or, in other words, Revelation is the only book in the Bible to contain certain information with no corroborating evidence any where else in scripture.  This is one reason some early church scholars relegated Revelation to the Apocrypha and gave it little or no heed.

Sounds like a plan...

7. The whole idea (now a “doctrine”) of the “Rapture” comes from the words “Come up hither” in Chapter 4, verse 1.  Yeah, that’s it.  According to Rapture-ists, this is God illustrating how He will call out His Church (true Christians) and then pour out His wrath on the world.  If the words of Jesus mean anything at all, He said He would return  to the earth – not pull some secret “half-return” stunt then come back for real later.

8. Revelation  has become the source-book for cults, cult leaders and bizarre-o religions (remember Waco, Texas…just one example) and men seeking attention and profit.  Should text inspired by God produce such results?

So be careful out there.  When you hear a minister say he knows what’s going to happen, no he doesn’t.  He has chosen one type of interpretation and made a career out of spreading his view.  The one thing you can be assured of is that the future is unwritten.  Always has been, always will be.

Misrepresenting Jesus

Looking at the majority of those who profess to be “little-christs”, a.k.a., “Christians”, one would think that Jesus was a Republican, wrapped in the flag of the U.S.A., in church every Sunday (or Saturday), King James Version (A.V. 1611) Bible under one arm, advocating supply-side economics, railing against paying taxes to support a immoral and reprobate government and using His power and influence to legislate morality — but this Jesus is a myth — He doesn’t exist.

So, what did Jesus do when He did interact with a morally bankrupt government?  Did He advocate paying taxes?  What about His attitude toward the “church” of His day?  Did He take a stand in favor of freedom and justice for all people?

To find the answers to these questions and more, there is really only one source — the Christian New Testament — specifically, the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  Lets take a look at the real Jesus.

Keep in mind that Jesus was born under the tyranny of the Pax Romana, the Roman Peace, which was not a peace at all.  The power and might of the Roman Empire crushed any resistance.  That was the Roman “peace” — destroy and crush any one or any thing that objected to their quest for world domination.  Jesus was born a poor subject, a conquered Jewish citizen of the Roman Empire.  That was His world.  His time.  He was surrounded by mostly poor, agrarian, illiterate people ruled by selfish, bigoted, egotistical governors and a Caesar that considered himself to be “God’s Son.”

But Jesus started His earthly ministry with a miracle – not education, or universal health care, or even a good source of clean water for the city of Canaan – no.  He created large quantities of alcohol for a wedding celebration.  (Don’t tell me it was grape-juice.  Show me the refrigerators of the First Century, A.D.)

When it came to rebelling against the evil Roman rulers, Jesus said, turn the other cheek.  If a Roman asks you to carry a burden one mile, carry it two miles.  When the disciple Peter actually did pick up a sword and cut off the ear of a government official (a guard or policeman) in defense of the betrayed Jesus, Peter was told by Jesus to drop the sword and then Jesus healed the guard’s wounded ear.

When the disciples came to Him complaining they didn’t have the money for taxes, Jesus never said, “you shouldn’t support the immoral government anyway, so lets not pay the tax and be ‘tax protesters.’”  He told them to go catch a fish and in the mouth of the fish was the tax money.  In short – He advocated paying the taxes — so much so that He went to the trouble of creating  the money to pay them!  (Maybe He would agree with V.P.-elect Biden that paying taxes is “patriotic?”)  Why then do churches and religious entities fight so hard for tax-exempt status?  Why wouldn’t they want to do what Jesus did?

Did Jesus criticize “sinners?”  Did He say, “the reason Israel was conquered and is under the rule of Rome is because of all of the sinners in the land?”  No.  In fact, Jesus was accused several times of being a sinner and a party-goer because He hung out with the sinners so often.  One little known fact of the life of Jesus is that the ONLY  people He ever criticized were not the “sinners”, but the religious leaders  of His day.  You won’t hear that from too many religious leaders today.

The only time Jesus ever lost His temper and became violent was in church (or temple – the “church” of Jesus’ day).  He became angry with those conducting commerce (quite legal, by the way) on the church grounds.  Jesus objected to making a few bucks off of those who came to worship.  He objected so much, that He overturned their tables and beat the entrepreneurs with a home-made whip.  Makes me wonder what He’d do to those preachers that sell their DVD’s and books on tables in the lobby of their giant mega-churches…?

Not once did Jesus advocate open or subversive rebellion against Rome or the Roman government.  Not once did He declare slavery wrong – in fact, He told the slaves to be good slaves, and the masters to be good masters.  As far as being a Reaganomics “supply-sider”, several times Jesus told men with families (presumably) to walk away from their jobs and follow him.  We aren’t told how the men provided for their families once they quit their trades.  Not exactly advice you would hear from a Republican.

In fact, it’s my contention that the real  Jesus, should He return and walk among us, would be thrown out of the country by the same people claiming to be “little-christs.”

Kinda like history repeating itself.

Stayin’ Alive (Bail-Out Fever)

Looking back on recent government bailouts (1970 – 2008) I realized that only one bailout took place under a Democratic administration – the Chrysler bailout of 1980 took place under President Carter’s watch – all the rest, and there are several (http://www.propublica.org/special/government-bailouts), took place under Republican Administrations.  Doesn’t this go against the perception of fiscal accountability and responsibility the Republicans are known for?

To their credit, the Republicans currently are opposed to bailing out the “Big-Three” auto makers, GM, Ford and Chrysler.  And, if they stick to their current position, the Republicans will be proven correct in opposing and blocking the automobile manufacturers bailout.  When you look at their track record, all three of these massive companies deserve to fail.

In the early to mid 1970’s, when the first fuel crisis hit, there were four American car companies manufacturing cars in the United States; GM, Ford, Chrysler and American Motors (AMC).  Imports were around but isolated mainly to large cities and coastal areas where driving for long stretches on highways or interstates was not a factor.  All four of these companies were caught with their pants down selling large, heavy, fuel gulping cars.  Sales plummeted as fuel costs sky-rocketed.  Americans started looking for fuel saving alternatives, mainly smaller, lighter cars.  Who had the smaller more fuel friendly cars?  The imports – primarily, VW, Toyota and Datsun.

Many American families experienced an imported car for the first time during these fuel conscious days of the mid-70’s.  I know mine did.  My dad bought a used 1973 VW Beetle in 1975.  Before that, he had owned nothing but Chevrolets and Fords.  After the Beetle came the brand new 1977 Toyota Corolla Wagon – the first Toyota registered in the small Illinois county we lived in – Dad had to drive over 50 miles away to find a dealer who sold Toyota.  Seemed like overnight we started seeing VW Diesel Rabbits and Dashers, Datsun 210s and 510s, Honda CVCCs, Mazda 323s and, of course, Toyotas on our local country roads.  Everyone else was starting to discover what my dad discovered – the quality and performance of the imports, once experienced, was something you could not do without.

Oh sure, the American car companies responded with smaller cars and “down-sized” models of their land yachts.  Some of them sold very well, but the profit margins on the smaller cars were slim.  Many Pintos and Mustang II’s had to sell to equal the profit on just a few of the larger luxury vehicles.  Then there was the quality issues, the engineering issues, the design issues — why would I purchase a Chevrolet Monza over a Toyota Celica?  It was during this time that loyalties were changing.  Ford men were becoming Toyota drivers.  Datsun (later Nissan) was picking off potential Chevy buyers, and, etc.  (Once again, the example of my dad - other than a bad experience with a Chevrolet Cavalier, he’s owned nothing but Toyotas and Nissans.)  Because of their unwillingness to change, their sticking to tradition instead of innovation, the American car-makers set in motion their eventual collapse and failure.

But it took a while…

1982 Ford EXP - it was no Toyota

Finally!  By 1982, all four car companies had small, light, fuel efficient cars (performance – not so much) out in the market, each model full of options and priced low enough for those of us recovering from the Jimmy Carter recession to afford one.  Ford had the Escort/Lynx, GM had their Cavalier/SkyHawk/Firenza/SunBird, Chrysler had the Omni/Horizon/K-Car and AMC had – well, AMC was bought out by Renault.  (NOTE:Renault/AMC was in the beginning stages of producing the 1984 Motor Trend  “Car of the Year” – the Renault Alliance/Encore.  Try finding one of those  still running.  Since AMC was owned predominately by Renault it was no longer considered an American car company and just as well.  French cars have never sold well in the U.S.)  Eight years after the initial shock of the fuel shortages and price increases, the “Big 3″ finally have some decent fuel efficient cars, but with marginal performance.  My first brand-new car was a “Medium Blue Metallic” 1982 Ford EXP with a 1.6 litre “HO” engine (88 hp), 4-speed manual and 32 – 36 mpg.  I financed the $8100 over 48 months with a 10.5% interest rate (ouch) – made my payments roughly $250 a month.  Why did I buy a Ford after all my father had taught me?  The 1982 Toyota Tercel SR-5 was sold out and there was a waiting list for the 1983 model, that’s why.

From 1983 to 2005, gasoline prices remained relatively low and steady (factoring in normal inflation.)  Fuel was plentiful and the Regan/Bush administrations relaxed the CAFE standards and allowed the “Big 3″ a relaxed emissions standard when it came to light trucks and sport utility vehicles.  In 1994, the federally mandated 55 mph speed limit was removed allowing individual states to set their own speed limits.  A demand developed for more horsepower, bigger engines, more capacity – fuel economy took a back seat.  We entered the era of the SUV.  An era where trucks (light trucks & SUVs) out-sold cars.  The car companies loved it.  Profits rolled in on these large vehicles while the smaller car lines were allowed to languish and dwindle down to one or two unimpressive models.

It was the early 1970’s all over again…and the “Big 3″ car companies were ripe for another crash in sales and profits.  All three renegotiated contracts with the UAW and other unions based on past sales performance — but what have we always been told about basing future results on past performance…?

My 2005 Scion XA - no bailout necessary

With the huge spike in gasoline prices came the inevitable switch to more efficient vehicles, smaller cars, hybrids, diesels, of which Detroit auto-makers have few to none.  SUVs and light trucks set on the dealer lots unwanted and unsold while the “imports” (not so “imported” as they once were) thrived once again.  Once again the wizards at the helm of Ford, GM and Chrysler find themselves facing stiff competition and an inventory that is over-priced, under-engineered, inefficient and out-of-sync with the market – just like 1973, 1979-80 and now, 2008 – only this time they want help from us – the taxpayers and their potential customers.

Hey, guys, haven’t we already voted with our wallets?  Make products we want to buy en masse  and we’ll buy them!  If you need profits, stop  making products you can’t sell in large volumes!  What is so hard about this?

Unfortunately, I would bet the “Big 3″ get their bailout.  Too many overpaid union workers will go unemployed if we let the free market (which tends to trend non-union) have its way.  And Democrats and the unions have been bed-mates for decades, so you see where this is going.

Meanwhile, demanding your potential customers to help you out when you screw up is not a good business tactic — and it certainly doesn’t build any brand loyalty.  You may get your “bailout”, but you’ll never get my business.

Create-shun

You do realize that those who push for “Intelligent Design” (or “ID”) believe in the literal interpretation of the biblical book of Genesis.  This is the book, presumably written by Moses, that starts off giving us a blow-by-blow account of God creating all that we know and love – the Earth and the universe that surrounds it – and ends with the death of Joseph, second in command to the Pharaoh of Egypt.  This is the same book that tells us that the Earth existed before the Sun — that all plants, which rely on photosynthesis, existed before the sunlight and its source,  Mr. Sun.

 I’m not kidding.  Look at the chronology of the Genesis account of Creation:

 Day 1 – the earth was formless and void and God said let there be light.

 Day 2 – creation of the waters above the Earth and the waters below the Earth (atmosphere)

 Day 3 – dry land and plant life

 Day 4 – the Sun, Moon and stars

 Day 5 – sea life and birds

 Day 6 – land creatures and Man

 Day 7 – God rested

 Biblical literalists tell us that God took exactly 7 days to create the Earth – not billions of years or even hundreds of thousands of years – exactly 7 days – no more no less…

 #1 – If God had to create “light,” what was there before “light?”  Don’t say dark, because in order to have dark you need light.  So what was there before “light?”  Is this formless void called Earth existing in some dimension outside of normal space?

 #2 – How can there be plant life before the sole source of their energy was created?  Photosynthesis requires sunlight, but, oops, the Sun doesn’t exist yet!

 #3 – If I took a chainsaw back in time, the day after God created trees and cut a tree down, would there be growth-rings in the trunk of the tree?

 #4 – Did God create the stars (and galaxies of trillions of stars) with their light already visible from Earth?  If He did, then that implies age – a nonexistent age.  Is He trying to fool us?  Is this deception?

 #5 – What did the Earth orbit before the Sun was created?

 #6 – We have no evidence that man and dinosaurs existed simultaneously, yet the biblical account of creation states that man and dinosaur would have existed at the same time.

#7 – Did Adam and Eve have “belly-buttons” or navels?  Don’t laugh – if they did not, they were not human.

#8 – If a medical doctor traveled back through time to Day 6 of Creation, kidnapped Adam and laid him out for a full and complete medical examination, how old would Adam be?  We can assume from scripture that Adam and Eve were adults, so the the day after their Creation, how old would they be?  Would their bodies imply an age that didn’t exist?  Is God trying to fool us?

 All of these are simple questions, yet they cannot be answered by believers in the literal interpretation of the Genesis Creation account.

And these are the folks that want equal time in the science classroom.

Creation Yoga

It’s comical to listen and watch Creationists bend and contort their version of science and reality to force the square peg of Creation into the round hole of Reality. I say it’s comical — until I remember that the “Creation Lobby” is a powerful one. “Big Creation” has used its power and political influence to force some school districts to at least mention Creation as a viable alternative to evolutionary theory. When Creation and Creation Theory is pushed into a science classroom, that’s when Creationism stops being funny.Creationists usually believe in a young Earth. An Earth around 6000 to 10000 years old – depending on who you ask. This young Earth age comes from adding up the years mentioned in the Bible (biblical genealogies) as Archbishop James Ussher did back in the 17th Century. Archbishop Ussher arrived at a date for Creation – 4004 B.C. Simple enough, right? And everything was fine until the science of stratigraphical geology developed and started to uncover a much older planet — a much older planet. Also, Charles Darwin had the audacity to theorize that complex beings may have evolved from simple forms of life, and it may have taken millions of years for this complex and uncertain natural selection to have occurred. And then, adding insult to injury, fossilized remains of ancient, pre-human, extinct creatures were being found all around the globe. Some of these fossils suggested intermediate forms – an evolving species. Creation didn’t allow for millions or billions of years of evolution, but the developing sciences of geology and, later, the study of the characteristics of radioactive materials did. Unlike the new worlds of science, Creation was fixed and rigid and did not allow any deviation from the written texts of Scripture. As a result, Creation, Creationism and Creationists and their “young universe” were left out in the cold.

Or were they?

Turns out, Creationists are good at “creating” — creating different ways to get around the fact that the Earth, and, therefore, the Sun, the Solar System, our Milky-Way Galaxy and the rest of the Universe are much, much older than the Bible indicates. How do they get around it?

The Gap Theory – Thank God (literally) He left this enormous “time gap” between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. This “theory” (and I’m being charitable using the term “theory”) holds that, yes, God created the Heaven and the Earth originally, but things went wrong when catastrophe hit the Earth in the form of the fall of Lucifer. This fall brought evil and total destruction to Creation and as a result the Earth lay in ruins for thousands or millions or billions of years before God re-created it all, just 6000 years ago, in Genesis 1:2. What’s really strange about this theory is that the “gap” was only discovered when evolution, geology, archeology and other sciences started pointing out that the Earth was old – really old.

The Day-Age Theory- each “day” could mean a 24 hour day or it could mean periods of time or epochs. In other words, God didn’t create over six days, totally a mere 144 hours, but over six epochs or time periods of unknown length. Never mind the fact that the Hebrew word for day (yom) most always means a 24 hour day as measured by the setting and rising of the Sun – that is if  the Sun has been created – yet.

 The Pictorial Framework Theory – once again the “days” are not days but six revelations to Moses (the presumed author of Genesis) giving the Creation Story a literary framework in which to relay the story of God’s handiwork. The account is primarily logical, rather than chronological, with the creation account arranged in two groups of three – Day 1 through Day 3 & Day 4 through Day 6 with parallels between Day 1 and Day 4, Day 2 and Day 5, Day 3 and Day 6 – confused? Yeah – me, too. To say this theory is a stretch is an understatement, but then again it does give Creationists another convenient out when it comes to the age of the Earth.

The Flood Theory- this theory holds to the absolute fact that the Earth is a young planet, roughly 6000 to 10,000 years old. But, the Earth was “aged” during the deluge of Noah’s world-wide flood recounted for us in Genesis, chapters 6, 7 and 8. God’s destruction of the Earth (save for Noah and family) by a tremendous world-wide flood was so unprecedented and intense that the Earth literally was twisted and compressed under the intensity of the waters from “above the Earth” and “below the Earth.” This combination of water and pressure formed what we know as strata layers in rock and soil – large formations, such as the Grand Canyon and the Himalayas were formed in a matter of days and hours under the grinding hydraulic pressure of the Flood waters. Fossils also were the result of the massive extinction of animals drowned and covered in rock, water and mud in an instant as the Flood waters overwhelmed them. In short, the Flood Theory states that under the unusual forces of the Flood waters, what was accomplished in a short period of time, geologists believe would ordinarily require millions or billions of years. The tragedy of this theory is that it ignores so much other evidence of an old Earth and it shows a gross lack of understanding of hydraulics and modern geology.  Some of you might remember Matt Damon referring to Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin believing that “dinosaurs were here 4,000 years ago” and Damon inferring that this belief made Palin unfit to potentially be President.  I don’t know about Damon’s inference, but if Gov. Palin believed that dinosaurs were here “4000 years ago,” then she probably subscribes to the Flood Theory.

The Ideal-Time Theory – (this one is my favorite, by the way) God created the Earth a short time ago, 6000 years ago sounds good, but He made it to appear very old. Looking at this view another way is to say that God creates systems in operation, already functioning with apparent age. Trees, insects, animals – everything was created already functioning with apparent age. Adam (and Eve) did not begin life as newborns; Adam was created a Man, fully functional, with apparent age. If I went back in time with a chainsaw the day after God created trees and cut a tree down, there would be growth-rings of apparent, not actual age. If I dug into the Earth, I would find strata of apparent age. If I looked into the newly created night sky, I would see stars that were hundreds and thousands of light-years away, their light already reaching the Earth giving the illusion of age. Wow! The great thing about the Ideal-Time Theory is that there is no way to refute it! Some have said that this theory makes God out to be a deceiver and this is against His nature (it certainly would make Him a crafty “Intelligent Designer”.) Others disagree, saying that when God creates, He creates in full – systems already in place and functioning. According to this theory, the chicken definitely came first.

Says it all...photo unretouched

Recently there have been several interplanetary probes and landers that have seen, touched, and in some cases, driven on the surfaces of other worlds – worlds not mentioned in the Bible, worlds not subject to Earthly concepts of evil, “sin” and Flood-judgments – worlds, according to the Bible serve only to mark the signs and seasons, the days and years. Yet on these worlds we see evidence of ancient, not recent, development. Worlds that are old, in the millions of years – strata layers, that give an account of the eons that have passed in that particular world’s development – meteor impacts that numbering in the millions, that appeared, not in a short time, but over billions of years. Doesn’t matter what world you visit – Mercury, Venus, the Moon, Mars, the Jovian Moons, Titan or…

…this place, Earth.

Rather than practicing Creation Yoga, why not sit back and enjoy, read and discover real science with real human-beings, exploring, learning – and yes, making mistakes, but correcting and learning from those mistakes. That’s learning. That’s science.

A Timely Death

This kind of thinking just blows my mind. It’s beyond my ability to understand the thought processes involved.Let me take a deep breath – and I’ll start over.

In a conversation with a woman who had recently lost her father to a long battle with Alzheimer’s, she mentioned to me that a decade earlier, prior to the Alzheimer’s diagnosis, her father suffered a massive heart attack. While he lingered in the hospital close to death, she prayed – begging God not to take her father. Thanks to her prayers and the miracles of modern medicine, her father recovered from his heart attack and went home only to later be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease from which he suffered for the next decade.

The woman blamed herself. She told me that God had decided to take her father by striking him down with a heart attack but her praying and begging caused God to change His mind and let the father live. The “punishment” for interfering with God’s Will, the woman told me, was striking the father with Alzheimer’s. “If only I had let him die when God wanted him to,” she said, “the last ten years he would’ve been at peace instead of in a home.”

How can you deal with this kind of thinking? Does this woman seriously think God is this sadistic and cruel? Why would anyone want to pray to some One like that?

If this was an isolated incident, I wouldn’t think that much about it, but I have heard this taught from the pulpit of various churches of different (Protestant) denominations. There are at least a couple of different versions of this “illustration” – I’ll give you the one I remember.

A Christian couple had a son they dearly loved. One day while the beloved son was riding his bike, he strayed into the path of an on-coming car and was hit. The boy lingered near death. The couple prayed and begged God not to take their only son. They prayed that God would let the boy live for surely they could never be happy again if their son died at such an early age. Their prayers were answered – the boy recovered and grew into a healthy adult.

But that’s not the end of the story. You see, the boy as a man, never followed in the footsteps of his parent’s beliefs. He strayed off into secular pursuits, forgot God and served only to please the flesh. The man, the beloved son of a devout Christian couple, died of a drug overdose never knowing or professing the love of God.

And who’s at fault? Why the loving parents, of course. If they hadn’t prayed for God to spare their precious son, the boy would be happy with Jesus now, not tormented in the Devil’s hell. They interfered with the Sovereign Will of God and for that they were all punished – the couple and the son.

This is some sick stuff. I’m not sure who to be angrier at – the ones who teach it as truth or the ones who believe it as truth.

Mentally I just throw up my hands.

The Disciples’ Car

If there was any doubt that modern day Christianity has reached the point of total lunacy, that doubt was removed this past Sunday, December 7, 2008 at Detroit, Michigan’s Greater Grace Temple as a Ford Escape, a GMC Tahoe and a Chrysler Aspen joined the churches ministers at the altar of prayer.  The purpose of the Sunday service entitled “A Hybrid Hope” was to implore the congregation to “pray and fast” until Detroit’s automakers’ bail-out was voted on by the US Congress.  “Divine intervention” was sought to keep the “Big 3″ automakers in business and the congregation of Greater Grace Temple employed.  Monday’s (December 8th) issue of the Wall Street Journal carried a large picture from the service on its front page.

 A service where “a laying on of the hands” and prayer was directed toward vehicles – not people.  Hey, if any vehicles needed prayer it would be the SUVs – they are the biggest sinners in the automotive world.  Let’s hope that the Escape, Tahoe and Aspen “got right with the Lord.”

 Understandably the congregants of the Greater Grace Temple are afraid of losing their automotive industry jobs and I’m sure that the Greater Grace Temple is afraid of losing all of that tax exempt tithe money.  From the pictures, the Greater Grace Temple looks to be a gigantic church, so I’m guessing the church elders, deacons, council (whatever) are shaking in their shoes as they imagine hordes of faithful congregants without work asking for help from the church.  Why that would totally blow the church’s budget for fiscal year 2009.  The church may have to cut back, put off purchases and maybe even down-size.  Why we can’t have that!

Since Greater Grace Temple is (presumably) a Christian church, I’m going to assume their doctrine is based on Scripture.  No where at any time in Scripture does Jesus try to help the corporate entities of His day.  In fact, the only time mentioned in Scripture where business and “the Temple” mixed, Jesus lost His temper and began beating legitimate businessman operating in the temple, over-turning their tables and physically wrecking their legal businesses.  Businesses, by the way, that put food in the mouths of children and alms into the Temple kitty.

Jesus had little pity on the poor.  He never spoke out against poverty or did anything to eliminate it.  “Ye have the poor with you always…,” Jesus said.  Another revered Christian, Mother Teresa, said, “…it is very beautiful for the poor to accept their lot, to share it with the passion of Christ.”  She also added, “I think the world is much helped by the suffering of the poor people.”  Hey, if Jesus and Mother Teresa said it’s great to be poor, it must be great!  Clearly Greater Grace Temple is on the wrong side of things.  No place in Scripture does it say that prosperity and spirituality go hand-in-hand.  In fact, the opposite is taught.

So dragging SUV’s to the altar of a church, laying hands on them and praying for the health of three huge world-wide corporations, would seem to be very close to heresy or, maybe, blasphemy.  At the very least it is an improper use of a church service that is supposed to celebrate rest and worship.

 Besides, anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of Scripture would know that God does not support the American automotive industry.  In Acts Chapter 2, verse 1, the writer (Luke) tells us that “when the day of Pentecost was fully come, [Jesus' Disciples] were all with one Accord, in one place.”  This “Accord” reappears several times throughout the book of Acts (Acts 1:14, 2:46, 4:24, 5:12, 8:6, 12:20, 15:25).

 Ask any Bible scholar – he’ll tell you the Disciples drove a Honda.

Checked Reality

Apparently there is a new set of books on the conservative, fundamentalist Christian “Hit List.”  Sorry, Harry Potter, move over – now the Twilight series has taken your place.  These set of books are full of teen-age angst and mix quasi-reality with pure fantasy.  Other than being poorly written the books are harmless.  And yet, conservative Christian groups and schools are forbidding the reading of these books because of the fantasy elements and the underlying “sexual tension” or the “erotics of abstinence” between the human girl, Bella, and a vampire, Edward, even though Bella and Edward abstain from any sexual intercourse until after they are married.  Isn’t that what conservative Christian schools teach?  Wait until after marriage to have sex?

The offending picture

Last week I was told of an incident at a large conservative Christian school in Florida.  Announcements had been made making the reading of the Twilight series forbidden.  (These books have been out for a while, I know, but the recent release of Twilight, the movie, brought the books to the forefront again.)   One particular female high school student was carrying a notebook that had a small picture of Bella and Edward on its cover.  The Dean of Women stopped this girl in the hallway and questioned her as to why she had that picture on her notebook.  After telling the Dean of Women that she “just like the picture,” the Dean asked the student, “Have you read those books?”

 ”Yes, ma’am,” the girl answered.

 ”Don’t the main characters have inappropriate sexual contact in the books?” the Dean of Women asked.

 ”No, ma’am, they don’t.”

“You realize there are occult references, violence, blood and vampires, don’t you?  I don’t think it’s appropriate for a student here to be reading the books or carrying around a picture of the characters in the book.  You need to cover that picture immediately.”

 The student did as she was told.

 Later in the week, this same large, conservative, Christian school held its annual high school Christmas program where several of the school’s various high school choirs sang the usual assortment of Christmas songs – but all references to Santa Clause were left out.  Example:

 “…We know that Christmas is on its way…There’ll be lots of toys and goodies on that day…”

 Also, any Christmas song lyrics alluding to “magic” or “magic in the air” or “magical” were changed to reflect the anti-occult stand the school has taken.  (On Halloween, the students are forbidden to wear orange or black.)  In short, the school went to a lot of trouble to remove all occult or imaginary figures from their portrayal of Christmas.

Following the choir numbers, there was a “Christmas Play” – complete with “no room in the inn”, “born in a manger”, “shepherds keeping watch by night” and wise men and angels -

 Wait – wise men and angels?

 The “wise men” or “magoi” (or “magian“, what we would call a “magician”) were a combination of astrologer and astronomer – that’s how they found “The Star” in the first place.  The appearance and placement of the new star in the “house” of  Israel indicated a king was born.  The Bible using astrology to bring attention to the birth of Jesus – how did this slip past the Christian school administration?  I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure astrology is roundly condemned by Christians – conservative and liberal alike.

 Angels.  One entire play at this school had a little girl having a dream that she’s in Heaven with the angels before the Archangel Gabriel sends the angels to Earth to announce the birth of Jesus to the shepherds.  Here in this play we have a little girl cavorting with the angels and we are led to believe that this “excitement in Heaven” could have actually happened.

 Really.

 You ever seen an angel?  Seriously, now.  You ever seen one?  No, of course not.  And if you say you have, you need to call the men in the white coats to “come and take you away.”

 There is absolutely no evidence of angels – or of any other life forms or beings dwelling anywhere else or in any other “dimension” other than what we see and know.  I’ve heard it said that there is virtually no difference between the imaginary and the non-existent.  Yet, even with this overwhelming lack of evidence that supernatural beings exist, this conservative Christian school, that shuns the occult and magic, wants us to believe that angels exist and are as real as you are.

 Dare I say it?  There is more evidence for the existence of Santa Clause than there is for angels.  As a kid, Santa was very real to me.  Santa never once let me down.  Every Christmas morning, no matter what my parents’ economic status, there would be presents for me on Christmas morning.  Why, the local TV station tracked Santa on radar!  There was one Christmas Eve night I was convinced I saw the silhouette of Santa and his Reindeer against the snow in our backyard.  Forget angels!  Give me the Jolly Old Elf any day!

 Christianity is replete with angels, demons, talking animals, witches, possessions, exorcisms, magic, multi-faced, multi-horned, multi-eyed beasts and the walking dead – but that’s okay – that stuff is real, kids.

 Just don’t you dare read any books about unrequited love or vampires – that might lead you in the wrong direction.

Rope-A-Dope

“We have met the enemy and he is us.”   ~ Pogo, 1970

 “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”   ~ Barack Obama, 2008

“For many will come…and mislead many.  For…false prophets will arise and will show great attesting miracles and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, the chosen ones.”   ~ The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 24, verses 5 and 24, NASB

 Of all the Biblical authors, Paul is my favorite.  Aside from being brilliant, he’s blunt, sarcastic, a bit of a male chauvinist and a definite sports fan.  This guy was tough.  As a missionary he survived the First Century A.D. Roman roads, shipwreck, snake-bite, beatings, stoning and imprisonment.  Undoubtedly these ordeals took a toll on Paul’s body and his appearance – he alludes to the fact that there was nothing about his outward appearance or his speaking abilities that would draw a crowd.  In another letter he mentions being cold and needing his cloak, being sick, but recovering and apologizing for writing too large because of his failing eyesight.

 Paul also was a technician – that’s right.  What the Bible calls “tent-maker” or “leather-worker” comes from the Greek “techna“, a skill or trade.  Paul had a marketable skill – he wasn’t just a preacher – Paul could earn a living, if he had to, as he did during his year and a half stay in Corinth.

 And still, out of the 27 books in the Christian New Testament, Paul wrote 13 of them – 14, if you believe Paul wrote the book of Hebrews.  Most of the “books” were actually letters written to various churches – churches in Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, etc.  The exceptions were the few letters Paul wrote to individuals – Titus, Philemon and Timothy.  It’s Timothy I want to concentrate on.

Paula - the Anti-Paul

Paul wasn’t getting any younger and he realized that he needed to pass on information to the following generation of pastors or overseers, one of which was young Timothy.  The two letters written to Timothy were actually instructions on how to be a pastor – how to be an overseer.  The letters are to the point and Paul doesn’t waste time getting down to the business of leaving instructions for Timothy to follow.  At one point Paul says, “I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long – but in case I am delayed, I write so that you may know how to conduct yourself…”  Ideally, Paul wanted to talk to Timothy face to face, man to man, teacher to student, but Paul had experienced his share of delays before and half suspected another delay in scheduling a meeting with Timothy.  This lack of a personal meeting made the letter to Timothy that much more important.  So it is significant that after this statement about being delayed, Paul switches from instructing Timothy about “conduct in the household of God” to warning Timothy about the future of Christianity.

 ”…[I]n later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of  evil spirits, by means of the hypocrisy of liars, having their own consciences seared as with a hot branding iron…”

Profit of God

How often have we been told that the enemies of Christianity are the “sinners” – those “bad people” that want to lead us away from God and destroy our beliefs, our families and our way of life?  In Paul’s warning to Timothy, those people don’t even rate a mention!  Paul may have had one last chance to warn Timothy about the enemies of Christianity – and he tells Timothy that the enemy is Christianity – a form of Christianity where the leaders are governed by consciences that have become comfortably numb and unfeeling.  Paul says the future Christian leaders will be deceitful, purveyors of evil doctrine, hypocrites, liars and possess numbed consciences that will allow them to deceive and take advantage of innocent people all while acting in God’s name.

 Any names come to mind?

 The cable and satellite networks are full of these guys – and gals – bombarding us from above with their own particular brew of prophecy and prosperity gospel.

21st Century Christianity

I often become very angry (so angry I’m tempted to become a full-fledged atheist) at so-called Christian teachers-preachers-ministers-prophets that I hear, see or read in the modern media.  I often say to myself and, sometimes, out loud (depends on my level of outrage), “How can God allow this pure crap to be said in His Name?  How can He allow these people to prosper materially and gain large followings all under the guise of being ‘blessed’ by God?  How can these Christian charlatans take advantage of people – some of whom desperately need real help?”

God’s answer may be, “Hey, I warned you about this.  Don’t be so gullible!”

Contrast the life of Paul with any one of these prosperity-gospel-preachers.  Paul came before the church “not with superiority of speech” but in “weakness and in fear and in much trembling.”  Paul’s messages to the Christian churches “were not in persuasive words…that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but…on God.” (Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, chapter 2, verses 1 through 5)  This is the exact opposite of what you will see when a prosperity-gospel-preacher takes the stage!  These modern-prosperity-pimps are all style and rely on the words of men making claims upon God – not the other way around.  Rather than the power of God, they employ deceit, spin and pure lies to draw people unto themselves and their mega-churches.

 Paul spoke and wrote from a point of weakness – sharing the same lot as his congregation(s) – making every effort possible not to prosper at their expense.  But today, a pastor like Paul would be labeled a failure because he, Paul, failed to “name it and claim it” and suffered poverty and ill health because of a lack of faith in God.

 Don’t be fooled by these liars and profit-pimps just because they preach with perfect hair and teeth, from glitzy stages and pulpits – they have their reward – they have their God – and He is Them.

Speak as a Child

“On the inside of you, you will sense something prompting you to say words and syllables. Just open your mouth and let the words flow. I do not care if it is ‘la, la, la,’ or ‘da, da, da.’…” ~ word-faith charismatic preacher Rod Parsley.

 ”puqloDwl’le’qu’: Hoch jaj choquvmoH.  lengllj lutebjaj lengwljvaD bel rap, Sov rap, ngoQ rap je Danobpu’bogh.”~ Klingon spoken by Dr. Frasier Crane at his son’s Bar Mitzvah.  “Frasier” 11/05/2002

 ”De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da.” ~ The Police, Zenyatta Mondatta, 1980

 ”As a Christian…I interpreted the feelings from meditating on Christ or speaking in tongues as a direct proof of the Holy Spirit…seems rather silly now, since there is no God – and I only speak in tongues once every few years just to see if I still have the touch…” ~ atheist Dan Barker in his book godless, p. 348, 2008

Characterized by their reliance on emotional decision-making, over-the-top rhetoric and lack of business transparency, it is no surprise the Biblical Charlatans that have set the Gold Standard in deceiving and manipulating needy and gullible people are up to their neck in the Charismatic Movement.  Charismatics, or those that have received “the gifts” of prophecy and tongues, believe in a direct experience with God and His Holy Spirit.  The Charismatic Movement is a theology of experience, of emotion, of direct one-on-one contact with God.  You talk to Him, He talks back – and if you have “the gift” you may even hear and see Him, as so many of the current crop of charismatic prophets and teachers have claimed.

Yes – that’s right.  Several of the famous Trinity Broadcasting Network preachers have claimed to see the Man Himself.  Some of them have visions on a regular basis.

What?  You haven’t heard or seen God this week?  What’s wrong with you?

To a charismatic, personal experience trumps written Scripture.  Instead of judging their experience by Scripture, they judge Scripture by their experience.  The Biblical text is reduced in importance and relegated to a supplemental role instead of being the primary source document for their theology.  This partially explains the lack of Biblical knowledge some of these preachers have and if you listen to them closely (at your own peril), you will find that they concentrate on a small portion of Scripture, usually New Testament, and usually having to do with physical, material or emotional experience.  The theology becomes one of personal emotions – the “feeling” you get when the Spirit communicates with your spirit.  Since your experience is, well, yours, who am I to judge you if mine is different?  You can see how this absolutely destroys the fixed text of Scripture.

Concentrating on emotion (tongues) and mysticism (prophecy) produces church services that are boisterous, sweaty and more akin to a high-school pep rally than a worship service.  The old staid hymnals are gleefully tossed aside in favor of upbeat “praise songs” consisting of simple, repetitive lyrics set to insipid tunes played by blaring rock bands that share the stage with the speaker-preacher-teacher.  The audience is artfully manipulated for maximum emotional output – and that’s just the beginning.  The preacher is usually a man or woman that has developed a stylized way of speaking so that the hearer’s mind tends to not hear what is being said, but rather feel what is being said.  And this feeling, of course, is from God.  This makes the flock very susceptible to suggestion and may explain why so many are blinded to the fact that they are being fleeced.

Let me warn you about something.  Over the next several weeks as the strife in Israel and Gaza escalates and subsides, as we hear about wars and possible wars, as our government shifts from center-right to center-left, you are going to hear these charismatic prophets claim that they knew this was coming.  Thanks to our friend, Mr. Internet, we can check just how wrong and how little these guys knew and know.  These “Profits of God” thrive in uncertain times but look at their record (and you can on the World Wide Web) and you will see that YOU can become a Prophet and accurately predict that these Prophet Pimps will be 100% wrong!  As I like to say, H.G. Wells and Jules Verne were far better prophets and far more accurate than Perry Stone, Jack Van Impe, Hal Lindsey, Pat Robertson, Kim Clement, et. al.

In regards to tongues, I’m not going into all of the Scripture that illustrates that “tongues” and “unknown tongues” were nothing more than human languages unknown to the speaker.  If I start quoting Scripture and dropping in Bible references with book, chapter and verse, your eyes will start to glaze over.  Suffice it to say that there is no current mystery regarding “speaking in tongues” – it is an emotion device used to manipulate people who tend to “think” with their heart rather than with their brain.  It is baby-talk for child-like believers.  It is confusion – and God is not the author of it.

Good ol’ Apostle Paul said it best: “…if there are gifts of prophecy, those prophesies will be fulfilled; if there are tongues, they will cease…when I was a child, I used to speak as a child…but when I became a man, I did away with childish things.”

Atheism Wins

By now most of you have read how a small group of lonely atheists have decided they want to ban God from Barack Obama’s upcoming Presidential Inauguration. The proposed ban doesn’t have a prayer in succeeding but the press time and exposure these atheists get is priceless. It’s not only the media coverage that drives contributions to atheist organizations but the reactionary theists (usually Christian) that wet themselves every time an atheist takes a pot-shot at religion or religious tradition.

Come on – I mean really – what do Christians have to fear from atheism?

Recently, on the island of deep-thought, fish-n-chips and bad dentistry, otherwise known as Great Britain, an atheist group was tired of the religious ads that appear on city buses. So, putting all of their pointy-heads together, they came up with as ad of their own:

There is probably no God, so stop worrying and get on with your life.

And a second variation:

There’s probably no God. So stop worrying and enjoy life.

That’s it? That’s the best their uncluttered, non-religious minds can come up with? There’s “probably no God?” Whaddaya mean “probably?” You mean there might be a God? That should have caused every atheist in the UK to run to their nearest atheist organization and ask for their contributions back. If I were in charge of the Atheist Bus Ad Campaign, my slogan would be:

There is no God. This life is it. Have fun.

Christianity has little to fear from atheism. Atheists usually don’t recruit or proselytize, although one atheist organization, Freedom From Religion Foundation, hands out what they call a “nontract” to Christian believers in an effort to negate the effects of religious tracts, propaganda and teaching. (For an atheist organization, this is dangerously close to proselytizing and appearing “religious” – so it should be no surprise that the Freedom From Religion Foundation is headed up by a former charismatic pastor, Dan Barker. Old habits die hard, eh, Dan?) Other than the exception of the FFRF, hard-core atheism is advanced through books, magazines and websites that the interested reader must seek and find. Unless you count “DARWIN” fish, most atheism is not thrust in your face – it’s a sought after topic or choice.

It’s not the atheist that twists and distorts scripture, using the Bible as a tool to deceive, extort and steal from the gullible only to pad their own nests here in this present life. It’s not the atheist that claims to speak directly to God, see visions and hear prophesies only to have those visions and prophecies proven false. It’s not the atheist that pollutes the airwaves with outrageous and unsubstantiated claims of healings, supernatural miracles and appearances of the Divine. It’s not the atheist that substitutes subjective personal experience with objective truth. It’s not the atheist that wants to force teachers to fore-go science in favor of mysticism.

If Christians want to identify the real enemy, all they need to do is look at the face of Twenty-First Century Christianity. Look at the Charismatic Movement. Look at the Prosperity Gospel. Look at Trinity Broadcasting Network. Look at the Christian Broadcasting Network. The fine wine has turned to vinegar – atheism is the result – not the cause.

History and Agatha Christie have taught us all that if you want to poison someone, and not get caught, you do it slowly, patiently, over time. You disguise the poison with something good – mixing error with some truth. Only then will you be able achieve your goal and walk away, blameless.

It’s not atheism I fear. It’s not the lack of belief that disturbs me. It’s belief – it’s religiosity.

The truth with a bit of error…over time and…

Atheism wins.

Israel’s Cheerleaders

Many of my pagan friends (“pagan” is my affectionate term for a non-believer) ask me why Christians, and Christianity in general, are so ardent in their support of the State of Israel. Somehow, even my pagan friends are aware that Judaism generally does not support the growth or expansion of Christianity, so why do Christians actively support and prop up the State of Israel, home of Judaism?

It’s strange, but understandable, that these questions are asked of me in hushed tones, quiet whispers and a quick check to see if anyone is listening. Questioning the support of Israel can get you accused of anti-Semitism or, worse yet, being pro-Arab – and we can’t have that!

Some basics – both the Jews and the Arabs are correct in claiming the same father, Abram (later Abraham) and both are correct in claiming a Divine blessing upon them and their descendants. The Jews trace their lineage back through Isaac, the son born to Abraham’s wife, Sarah, and the Arabs trace their lineage back through Ishmael, the son born to Abraham’s Egyptian maid, Hagar. If you read the Book of Genesis, the stories of these two births are rudely (and I mean really rudely) interrupted by the disgusting story of Sodom and Gomorrah, so I think the continuity of the two births of Ishmael and Isaac gets lost. If you objectively read the accounts of the births and omit the Sodom and Gomorrah story, you find that God physically intervened twice to help Ishmael’s mother Hagar stay alive while Sarah, Isaac’s mom, was once visited by three men (assumed angels) that told her she would have a baby in a year’s time. We end up with two Divinely blessed half-brothers – Isaac whom God promised, “I will establish My covenant with him…” – Ishmael whom God promised, “He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.” Ishmael, the name meaning, God will hear, and Isaac, meaning he laughs.

Put them together in the same land with the same promises and what you get is not funny.

You would think modern day Christian support of Isaac’s descendants, the Jewish people, would be because of God saying, “My covenant [is] with him [Isaac].” You would be wrong.

The true source of the modern day Christian support of Israel comes from Biblical eschatology. According to eschatology, the Bible tells us that there are future events that cannot happen until Israel has been established as the Divinely ordained and permanent home of the Jewish people, the children of Israel. One of those things that cannot happen until Israel has been established is the Second Coming of Christ. So, very simply, anything modern day Christianity can do to accelerate the process of establishing the State of Israel, whether that be in the form of material aid, monetary aid or military aid – any kind of aid at any cost – will only serve to hasten the Second Return of Christ. That’s the motivation for the support – to, if possible, “speed up” the promised return of Jesus Christ so He can establish His Millennial Kingdom here on Earth.

That’s what is taught in Christian churches today. It also explains some of the fascination modern day Christians have with charismatic prophets who are constantly trying to crack “Bible Codes” or swear they’ve seen plans to “re-build Solomon’s Temple” in Jerusalem. Some examples of what I’m talking about come in the form of, Perry Stone, Jack Van Impe, Hal Lindsey, Tim LaHaye, Trinity Broadcasting Network and the Christian Broadcasting Network to name a few. In fact, just a few years ago, CBN’s Pat Robertson worked out mathematically when Christ would come back based on the date that the State of Israel was established by the United Nations – A.D. 1948. (Robertson came up with 1988 (the year God told him to run for President), but re-figured after considering the boundary changes during the 1967 and 1972 wars. Robertson now has dates of Christ’s Return between 2008 and 2012.) The point is that the formation, establishment and maintenance of the State of Israel are vital for Christ’s promised return.

So Israel should be grateful for the Christian support – whatever the reason, right? Well, maybe, but there is a down side.

According to modern interpretations of Biblical eschatology, what also has to happen after the establishment of the Jewish homeland, Israel, is the rise of the false Messiah, also known as the “Anti-Christ” and the “Beast.” The Anti-Christ, it is said, will arise as a world leader and negotiate a peace treaty in the Middle East which will allow Israel to re-build the Temple of Solomon and re-establish Judaism’s rights and rituals to conform to the ancient laws set forth in the Torah. This all sounds great; until you read that the Anti-Christ also breaks the peace treaty, desecrates the Temple and declares open war on the Jewish people. “[T]hen let those who are in Judea (Israel) flee to the mountains…” Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew, “and unless those days be shortened, no life would have been saved.” Millions of Israelites will die, save 12,000 from each of the Twelve Tribes, all in the process of convincing them that Jesus Christ is the True Messiah.

Boil it down and what you get is modern day Christianity supporting the State of Israel in an effort to eventually convert the Jews, or what is left of the Jewish people, to Christianity.

I wonder how many Israelis are aware of this?

Land of the Bible Bizarre

Late Friday, January 9, 2009, U.S. District Court Judge M. Casey Rodgers granted a preliminary injunction in the case of the ACLU v. Santa Rosa County School District (Florida). The ACLU filed a lawsuit in August on behalf of two Pace High School students, who claim Pace High School officials misuse their positions to promote their religious viewpoints. The suit named the Santa Rosa County School Board, the district’s superintendent, and the principal at Pace High School as defendants.The lawsuit also documents how teachers and staff at Pace High School preach about “judgment day with the Lord” and offer Bible readings and biblical interpretations during student meetings.

Among the complaints listed in the suit:

1. Elementary graduations and middle school Christmas concerts held at churches.

2. Teachers & staff at Pace High preaching about Judgment Day with the Lord.

3. Teachers & staff offering Bible readings and biblical interpretations during student meetings.

The preliminary injunction prohibits all district officials from:

1. Promoting or sponsoring prayers during school-sponsored events, including graduation.

2. Planning or financing religious baccalaureate services.

3. Holding school-sponsored events at religious venues when alternative venues are reasonably available.

4. Permitting school officials to promote their personal religious beliefs and proselytize students in class or during school-sponsored events and activities.

On Dec. 15, 2008, the school board, the superintendent and the principal filed an “Admission of Liability” with the Court regarding the district-wide constitutional violations.

“The School District ultimately did the right thing in admitting and accepting responsibility for its violations of students’ constitutional rights,” said Benjamin James Stevenson, principal litigator and staff attorney with the ACLU of Florida’s Northwest Regional office. “We are pleased with (the) decision, and we look forward to working with the defendants and the court to permanently bring the school district in line with the First Amendment.”

Just in case you’re not familiar with Santa Rosa County, Florida, it’s no where near Miami, Tampa, Orlando or Jacksonville. Santa Rosa County is located in the far north-west of Florida, the second Florida county east of the Alabama state line and is part of what the locals call the “Redneck Riviera” because the county shares it’s southern border with the Gulf of Mexico. Santa Rosa County is mostly a rural county and is known for two things:

1. Having more churches per square mile than any other in the nation — there are approximately 178 churches in Santa Rosa County.

2. One of the largest producers of Florida-grown marijuana – due to the large size of the county, its rural nature and its lack of major metropolitan areas.

Just five years ago, Santa Rosa County was a dry county – no wine or spirits – and no beer sales on Sundays. Since then, Santa Rosa County has become “wet” on a limited basis. The locals blame the county going “wet” on new residents moving in from “up north” and changing the local “traditional values.”

If you’re still having a hard time imagining where this place is, let me call your attention to Santa Rosa County’s neighbor county just to the east, Escambia County, Florida. Pensacola, Florida, the county seat of Escambia County, is the home of some of the more bizarre and sometimes violent religious entities. Examples include:

June 1984 – bombing of a local abortion clinic.

December 1984 – bombing of the same abortion clinic.

March 1986 – former KKK member and local religious leader, John Burt, along with his daughter, break in and assault female abortion clinic workers.

March 1993 – Michael Griffin, allegedly a member of Rescue America (founded by Pensacolian John Burt), shot and killed Dr. David Gunn outside an abortion clinic.

July 1994 – Paul Hill, a former Presbyterian minister and leader in Defensive Action killed a physician and bodyguard outside another abortion clinic; he wounded the wife of the bodyguard. Hill was executed by the state of Florida for his crimes.

Pensacola is the home of Pastor Chuck Baldwin who pastors Crossroads Baptist Church and was a U.S. Presidential Candidate representing the Constitution Party in the last national election (2008).

Pensacola Christian College which instructs its faculty, staff and students on how to vote in local elections in order to advance the college’s agenda. This same college churns out Christian “home-school” material with a decidedly conservative right-wing view point.

Pensacola Bible Institute, founded and led by Dr. Peter Ruckman, requires Bible students (and wives & children) to stand and shout (“preach”) at traffic stopped at busy intersections.

Dr. Kent Hovind, founder of Creation Science Evangelism, fought Escambia County over building and zoning permits for his Dinosaur Adventure Land amusement park. Dr. Hovind and his wife, Jo, were later convicted of tax evasion. Hovind is now serving time in a Florida prison.

Pastor Gordon Godfrey of the Marcus Pointe Baptist Church known for his anti-homosexual stance and anti-gay billboards he and his church paid to have erected before the Memorial Day “Gay Days” at Pensacola Beach. Godfrey advocated throwing nails and tacks in the beach and hotel parking lots during these “Gay Day” events. Pastor Godfrey, an avid hunter and outdoorsman, was later convicted of hunting deer in Wisconsin without a hunting license.

So, you can see that it’s no surprise to hear that public school teachers and administrators are teaching the “judgment of the Lord” in the Santa Rosa County Schools.

This is, after all, the Land of the Bible Bizarre.

…And The Bizarre-ness Continues…

Marcus Schrenker...D.B. Cooper?

No known connection, but the aircraft that was abandoned in mid-flight by fugitive (now captured) Indiana money manager, Marcus Schrenker crashed into a wooded area off of Wright Basin near a neighborhood in East Milton, Florida – that’s in Santa Rosa County.

Is there something about Northwest Florida and Santa Rosa County in particular that draws criminals, fugitives and religious weird-os? Is Santa Rosa County the singularity of some kind of a Bermuda Triangle-like phenomenon that draws wack-os, crazoids and nut-burgers to itself? We will probably never have these questions answered, but I think it’s strange that out of all the places to crash, Marcus Schrenker’s abandoned single-engine Piper Malibu decided to crash in Santa Rosa County, Florida. Like some weird and wacky magnet was guiding it, pulling it toward the center of weirdness.

Yes, yes, I know – Schrenker was originally bound for Destin, Florida. Thing is, Destin, Florida is in Okaloosa County, Florida – the next county east of Santa Rosa County, Florida.

Now I’ll probably never know this until 20/20 or DateLine conducts a well-hyped interview with Marcus Schrenker, but I’m convinced that Schrenker was a big fan of one of my favorite movies, In Pursuit of D. B. Cooper. This 1981 movie starred Treat Williams as D. B. Cooper and was only loosely based on the real D. B. Cooper story. The real D. B. Cooper parachuted out of the rear of a Boeing 727 with a bag full of stolen money and was never seen again. The movie picks up where reality leaves off and fictionalizes the events following D. B. Cooper’s famous jump.

The connections to Schrenker and the movie are obvious…

1) Schrenker parachutes out of a plane after stealing money – so does D. B. Cooper.

2) Schrenker recovers a previously hidden motorcycle – so does D. B. Cooper, in the movie version.

3) Schrenker makes contact with law enforcement – so does the movie version of D. B. Cooper.

4) Schrenker’s cute wife had filed for divorce – so had D. B. Cooper’s, in the movie.

5) Schrenker lives rough while on the run – so does the movie Cooper.

Unfortunately, this is where the movie and Schrenker depart company. Not good for the now captured Schrenker because in the movie [SPOILER ALERT] D. B. Cooper gets away with the money and lives happily ever after and even [SPOILER ALERT #2] gets back together with his wife! Only in the movies!

But, sorry, Mr. Schrenker, life is a bitch in the Bizarre-o World of Northwest Florida.

Those Evil Atheists

It is a broad and inaccurate brush that paints atheists and atheism as “evil” and as a malevolent force that “good will ultimately overcome.” A recent example is a December 20, 2008 quote from Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Republican Congressman representing Florida’s 21st District. Congressman Diaz-Balart made the comments after attending the “Divine Performing Arts” show (a stage show detailing the history of the Chinese people in dance and song) in Fort Lauderdale.

“I was very moved by the song that talked about the damage atheism has caused and is causing…the songs carry a sense that evil will not prevail, and so the message is that the truth ultimately prevails…the message is eternal, it is truth…because eternal truth will survive atheism and the difficulties of the 20th Century. It is very important that this message gets out because it is the truth.”

From the above quote I think I can reasonably assume that Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart is, at the very least, a theist, and at the most, a religious man. Judging from his background, bio and friends, I’d say he’s most likely a Catholic or at least brought up in a Catholic home, although I admit I don’t know this for sure. Congressman Diaz-Balart clearly makes a direct connection between evil and atheism. In fact, to Congressman Diaz-Balart, the words “evil” and “atheism” can be used interchangeably. There’s no difference between the two – evil is atheism and atheism is evil.

Professor Dawkins from an appearance on "Doctor Who, The Stolen Earth" -- An evil atheist?

Has this been your experience? It certainly hasn’t been mine. I have found atheists to be some of the most independent, interesting and thought-provoking people I’ve met. The atheists I know would rather argue over a cup of coffee than participate in mass religious genocide. (It is true that some atheists dream of the day religion dies, but not by force – by its own accord.) My point is that atheism does not make a man “evil” – the man himself makes the man evil. Evil is not the product of atheism – evil is the product of a warped, paranoid mind, longing for power and approval with overtones of veneration and adoration.

No doubt Congressman Diaz-Balart had in mind Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung. Mao believed the Chinese were dominated by three separate institutions; the state, the clan and family, and the system of gods and spirits (theocratic authority) – these three institutions had to be dismantled in order for China to be a true and pure Communist state. Problem is, Mao himself demanded reverence. His “Little Red Book” was nothing short of a Ten Commandment-like Prayer Book. Even today Mao is regarded not so much as a great Communist leader but as a Great Ancestor close to the Divine. It was Mao’s megalomania, not his claimed atheism that motivated him.

Brought up as a Roman Catholic, served as an altar boy, Adolf Hitler was a typical Austrian. It was Hitler’s upbringing in what was an anti-Semitic religious culture that made him susceptible to the rampant Judeophobia that dominated the German nationalists Hitler gravitated toward while in Vienna in his late teens. Much later as Hitler rose to power, he echoed the same anti-Semitism at a 1926 Nazi Christmas celebration, “Christ was the greatest early fighter in the battle against the world enemy, the Jews … The work that Christ started but could not finish, I — Adolf Hitler — will conclude.” His famous (or infamous) book, Mein Kampf, repeats Hitler’s belief that he was doing “the Lord’s work.” Sometimes I wonder how much different history would’ve been if Hitler truly had been an atheist or at least an agnostic. He probably would’ve died a struggling artist outside a coffee house in Linz instead of becoming a tyrant fueled by divine beliefs in the lowliness of the Semitic races and the superiority of the German Soul.

Then we have Joseph Stalin – a tyrant and mass murderer that makes Hitler look like a light-weight – a man that professed atheism but created a system where communism and the Communist Party was the religion. Stalin’s communism claimed to be pro-science and anti-religious when in fact it clearly held unscientific views (the Communist Party under Stalin opposed Darwinism) and was anti-religious only in the sense that it suppressed all other religions except itself. Party devotees established a “Red Corner”, placing a portrait of Lenin in spaces that used to be occupied by Christian icons. An article of advice from Pravda, 1950…

“If you meet with difficulties in your work, or suddenly doubt your abilities, think of him – of Stalin – and you find the confidence you need. If you feel tired…think of him – of Stalin – and your work will go well. If you are seeking a correct decision, think of him – of Stalin – and you will find that decision.”

A more modern tyrant, Saloth Sar, better known by his fabricated name, Pol Pot, worked, starved or out-right murdered 1.7 million Cambodians, or about 20 percent of the population of Cambodia, all in an attempt to reclaim the racial purity of the Khmer race (the ethnic majority in Cambodia) and reclaim the ancient “lost territories” of the medieval Angkor kingdom. Pol Pot’s goal was to establish a purely Cambodian Communist State, one free of foreign influence – this included minority languages, French or foreign educated professionals and Cambodia’s Buddhist religion. In an effort to suppress religious expression, monks were defrocked, temples and artifacts, including statues of Buddha, were destroyed and people praying or expressing other religious sentiments were often killed. It was Pol Pot’s belief that the pure Cambodian Communist State was to be revered, the Khmer Rouge to be feared and the nobility of ancient Cambodian agrarianism to be achieved. A trinity, if you will, of beliefs that often fuel religious wars, such as those currently raging in the Middle East.

All of this brings us back to Congressman Diaz-Balart, who was born in Havana, Cuba before Fidel Castro’s 1959 Communist Revolution. Castro was raised as a Catholic but renounced his faith and was later (1962) excommunicated by Pope John XXIII. This excommunication had little, if any, affect on Castro but was designed to undermine support for Castro among Catholics in Cuba and around the world. As a result, Castro viewed the Roman Catholic Church as a political enemy, not a religious force, that he had to deal with. It wasn’t until the 1990’s, with Soviet-Russian support crumbling, Castro loosened restrictions on church-going Cuban Catholics. In 1998, Pope John Paul II visited Cuba, appeared together with Castro and succeeded in thawing the relationship between the Vatican and Communist Cuba. In April, 2005, after the Pope’s death, Fidel Castro, wearing a dark suit, attended a mass in the Pope’s honor in Havana’s cathedral and expressed his gratitude for the “heartfelt way the death of our Holy Father John Paul II was received (in Cuba).” Hardly the remarks of an “evil atheist.”

It’s the last place most religionists and theists look, but the Bible condemns not atheism, but religiosity. (And those of you that bring up Psalms 14 and Psalms 53 need to study your Hebrew.) The Apostle Paul in Acts 17 was walking and talking with the Epicureans and the Stoics in Athens on the Areopagus. The Epicureans were atheists – believing that there was only this life and, if there were any gods, or God, at all, they or He were/was not concerned with the affairs of man. The Stoics believed in self-mastery and austerity as the means to achieve perfection in this life. Paul commented on both of these philosophies…

“Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.”

Paul’s criticism was derived from the fact that religiosity and mysticism reigned supreme in the lives of these Athenians. It wasn’t their unbelief that was the problem, it was their religious beliefs.

Atheism is not the enemy. Atheists are not the enemy. The fuel of megalomania and paranoia are religiosity and mysticism…

…the true evil.

“…some began to sneer, but others said, ‘We shall hear you again concerning this.’”

More Northwest Florida Weirdness…

Pensacola, Florida, the county seat of Escambia County, Florida is a small town. I looked it up – population 55,240 (US Census for 2000) – we’re not talking Orlando or Tampa, here – Pensacola is a dinky place by comparison.

So how did so much weirdness get crammed into one area? (See previous blogs “Land of the Bible Bizarre” and “…the Bizarre-ness Continues”) Is it the climate? The UFO’s in Gulf Breeze?  Hurricanes? The lack of affordable homeowners insurance? Bushwackers? What is it?

Now a local attorney, Mike Papantonio of the Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Echsner & Proctor law firm in Pensacola is after Rush Limbaugh – and maybe Rush Limbaugh’s job.

Papantonio, or “Pap” as he is sometimes called, has aspersions of becoming the next big thing in talk radio. Papantonio is the host of a nationally syndicated radio show, “Ring of Fire,” on Air America Radio and is the founder of GoLeft.tv. Never heard of it? Yeah – I’d never heard of Rush Limbaugh either until he burst on to the national airwaves back in 1988. Papantonio is different from Limbaugh – Papantonio’s opinions and philosophy comes from the far left (hence, the “GoLeft.tv”) as opposed to Limbaugh’s far right views.

Papantonio - looking Left for the answers.

Papantonio writes a semi-regular opinion column in his local newspaper, the Pensacola News Journal (www.pnj.com), and on Wednesday he had this to say about Limbaugh…

Let Rush Talk to a Laid Off Worker
Mike Papantonio • January 28, 2009

Last Sunday, the pastor in the church I attended prayed for Barack Obama. That pastor prayed that Obama would have the strength and wisdom to guide America. I’m certain that the majority of that congregation agreed that we should all pray for Obama’s success. It made me proud to be a member of that church during that prayer.

I wish Rush Limbaugh had been there. Because the week before Limbaugh made the statement on his radio show that he hoped that Obama’s efforts to pull America through these dark days would fail.

His words were: “I hope Obama fails. Somebody’s got to say it.” He went as far as telling his lockstep listeners that he was angry at Republicans who are pulling for Obama to succeed.

I’m pretty sure there are preachers all over this country leading congregations in prayers that make the same plea my pastor made last Sunday. And I’m comfortable knowing that the power of those prayers are much stronger than the repugnant hate talk of an aging radio host in search of a bigger audience.

It’s important to consider the specifics of what Limbaugh is hoping for in Obama’s failure. Eight million Americans lost their homes to foreclosure during the Bush years. Perhaps if Limbaugh could step out of his 25,000-square-foot home and see the pain of a mother and father telling their children that they just lost their home, maybe then he would want Obama to succeed.

Or maybe Limbaugh could step away from his $400 million job long enough to be on site the day a factory or a bank or a restaurant closes. And maybe he could follow one of those fathers home to tell his family that he just lost his job. Maybe then he would want to pray for Obama, rather than hope Obama fails.

It might even be a good idea for this pathetic radio demagogue to put his solid gold microphone down for a few days and spend some time with his Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity chicken-hawk crowd touring V.A. hospitals. Perhaps then Limbaugh, who himself received a military deferment, could appreciate Obama’s effort to end “W’s” Iraq disaster instead of hoping for Obama’s failure.

These latest words give us a creepy picture of the real heart and soul of Limbaugh. Because, as he rallies his ditto-head crowd around the hopes of failure for Obama, he is in effect hoping that all of America fails.

But last Sunday, a prayer of hope and compassion delivered by a preacher who truly cares about America made Rush sound like the petty, irrelevant demagogue that he has worked so hard to become. ~ Pensacola News Journal, 01-28-2009

Notice how Papantonio worked religion into his column? Rush’s desire for Obama to fail has nothing to do with religion – but, like a good Pensacolian, Papantonio manages to tie the two together.

Since Papantonio brought up religion (he seems to have a thing for it since Jesus Camp), Limbaugh is held in high regard by the Religious Right. Robertson, Dobson, et. al., put up with Limbaugh’s obvious un-religious behavior (3 failed marriages & a drug habit) just to advance their political causes. To me the unquestioning support of these quasi-Christians (like Limbaugh) by the Religious Right tells me just where their priorities are. Advance the political agenda and we’ll worry about the Gospel later.

Filling the conservative "power gap" with gab.

First of all Limbaugh is an entertainer. Limbaugh does not hold any public office and he is not in a position of any authority. Limbaugh is on the air for one reason and one reason only – he’s good at entertaining and building an audience. His ability to engage and entertain allows Limbaugh to afford his ultra-luxurious East-coast Florida lifestyle – just like a good attorney, such as yourself, Mr. Papantonio, can afford much more than the average Pensacola resident – you know, a gated home, beach front property, a Bentley, etc. Limbaugh’s influence, if he really has any at all, was given to him by the free market, also known as the listening audience — unlike Air America which, well, doesn’t have much of an audience by comparison. Why criticize Limbaugh’s ability to earn a good living in an industry where most hosts fail? Criticizing Rush’s income and possessions just makes you look small, Pap.

Limbaugh’s opinions are his own.  Limbaugh only has as much power as we, the listeners, give him — he doesn’t hold office — he can’t pass legislation — he cannot write or enforce law.  Don’t like Rush? Turn him off. Stop listening.

Then Rush would be like the hosts on Air America…

…no power and no listeners…

Charismatics – Why we need the ACLU.

So this past Monday, the Santa Rosa County, Charismatic, faith-healing, unknown-tongues-speaking mega-church, Pace Assembly of God, led by their Pastor-Teacher-Prophet, Reverend Joseph “Joey” Rogers, decided to challenge the ACLU and the recent court ruling that prohibits teachers at the local public high school, Pace High School, from praying, preaching, Bible reading and proselytizing while teaching.

The ruling came down from U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union last month.  Pace High School principal, Frank Lay, and Santa Rosa Schools Superintendent, John Rogers, admitted liability and agreed to enforce the Judges’ ruling.

One part of the U.S. District Court ruling that really rubbed Pastor Joey Rogers the wrong way was the part about no prayer at the up-coming 2009 Pace High School Baccalaureate service.  So, Pastor Joey decided to hold his own.  The proposed service announced Monday will be held on May 28, two days before graduation, at Pace Assembly of God – of course.

Keeping God where He belongs -- on a cross and on a shirt.

Around ten well-meaning, but mis-guided, Pace High School students were excused from attending classes Monday to attend the Pace Assembly news conference.  One kid that spoke, senior John Soutullo, wore a black T-shirt emblazoned with the word “Crucified” written in a graffiti-style script and an agonized Jesus impaled on a white cross.  Yeeesh.  Kind of creepy.  As well as students, many local ministers attended – it was a wonderful chance to get themselves on the local TV News.

Pastor Rogers took it all a step further by creating his own website to help students and ministers work together to plan a baccalaureate service.

Sounds so good and noble – doesn’t it?

The ACLU favored ruling was not just about prayer at a baccalaureate service.  Here are some of the details from the suit itself:

1. Pace High teachers attend and take part in religious student “clubs” where they pray with and proselytize students.

2. “First Priority” an official Pace High student club meets once a week to sing and talk about God.

Youth Meeting at Pace Assembly

3. Pace High math teacher & softball coach, Dustin Gray, preached to students about “instant reply” and “judgment day with the Lord.”

4. Pace High School teacher Dan Adams offered Bible readings and interpretations.

5. Pace High School history teacher & coach, Clint Martin,  has preached at students in the parking lot through use of a bullhorn.

6. Pace High faculty were known to commonly promote their own faith, identify the church to which they belonged, give religious oriented homework and encouraged attendance of youth oriented “clubs.”

And this isn’t the first time Pastor Joey Rogers has tangled with the law or a school board.  Back in 2004 Pastor Rogers sought to ban a book, My Brother Sam is Dead, from the Okaloosa County Schools classrooms.  Pastor Rogers believed the book was obscene and had what he said was a negative approach to God.  Rogers lost as the school board unanimously voted to keep My Brother Sam is Dead in middle school classrooms.  Still, it doesn’t change the fact that Pastor Rogers is one of those guys who believes that his way is the only way.

Let’s look closely at Pace Assembly of God.  Just looking at their web-site is enough.  One of the up-coming speakers is Perry Stone, the Bible-Code, vision seeing, all-knowing Prophet of the Last Days.  This is the same Perry Stone that had the vision of the World Trade Center falling – but didn’t think to tell anyone until years after 9/11 happened.  This is the same Perry Stone that sells a “food kit” on his web-site that will heal you – not only spiritually, but physically heal you.  This is the same Perry Stone that when he was a teenage wrestled nightly with evil spirits that were trying to keep him from preaching.  This is the same Perry Stone that believes as and works with the administration and founders of Trinity Broadcasting Network – the masters of theft in the name of God.

The Ever-Present Prophecy Series

This is the company that Pastor Joey Rogers keeps.  Pastor Rogers would rather have the charismatic, biblical charlatans from TBN teach at Pace High School instead of trained, non-religious teachers.  Instead of science and medicine, it would be Intelligent Design and Faith Healing.  Instead of English and Literature it would be Speaking in Tongues and interpreting the Bible literally.

Keep talking Pastor Rogers – you are the reason we need the ACLU.  Mysticism belongs in the church – not the classroom.

The Charismatic Commonality

Recently, I commented on another blog that now that the Church has been established and all of Scripture was complete, prophecy had been fulfilled and tongues have ceased. (I Corinthians 13) There are those who say otherwise and they responded by calling me a “Cessationist.”

Prophecy has ceased. When the last bit of Scripture was written, prophecy ceased. To continue to “prophesy” is to add to Scripture.

Tongues have ceased. When the early church was established and those of various languages heard Christ preached in their own native languages, the gift or miracle of tongues was no longer necessary. Modern-day tongues-speaking is nothing more than uttering language-like but unintelligible sounds usually in a state of ecstasy – anyone can do it – pagans do and have for centuries. The so-called modern “glossolalia” is a product of an excited state produced by the hypnotic rhythms of modern praise music, repetitive chants from Praise Leaders and the pep-rally atmosphere of the charismatic worship service.

The “fruits” of such movements are confusion, disillusion and corruption.

For example, here is a list of major ministry scandals of the last hundred years or so…

 
Aimee Semple McPherson (1920’s – 1940’s) – practiced tongue speaking – Pentecostal

Lonnie Frisbee (1970’s – 1980’s) – Pentecostal evangelist

Billy James Hargis (early 1970’s) – fundamentalist protestant

Oral Roberts (1977 & 1986) – leader in the charismatic movement.

Jim & Tammy Bakker (1980’s & early 1990’s) – Pentecostal

Jimmy Swaggart (1986 & 1991) – Pentecostal

Peter Popoff (1987) – faith healer, charismatic

Mike Warnke (1991) – charismatic

Robert Tilton (1991) – charismatic

Frank Houston (2000) – Pentecostal

John Paulk (2000) – ex-”Focus on the Family” employee, evangelical

Paul Crouch (2004) – charismatic

Douglas Goodman (2004) – charismatic (United Kingdom)

Kent Hovind (2006) – Creation Science Evangelism

Ted Haggard (2006) – charismatic

Paul Barnes (2006) – non-denominational, non-charismatic

Lonnie Latham (2006) – Southern Baptist

Richard Roberts (2007) – faith healing, charismatic

Bishop Earl Paulk (2007) – semi-regular guest on TBN’s “Praise the Lord.” (charismatic)

Coy Privette (2007) – politician, Southern Baptist preacher

Phil Driscoll (2007) – affiliated with Kenneth Copeland Ministries (charismatic)

Joe Barron (2008) – Southern Baptist “megachurch”

Todd Bentley (2008) – Charismatic

Tony Alamo (2008) – Pentecostal theology

 
We have a total of 24 ministries on our modern-day Christianity Scandal Sheet, out of which we have 17 Charismatics, 3 known Southern Baptists, 4 non-denominational fundamentalists. That gives us:

70.8% – scandals involving charismatics/Pentecostals
12.5% – scandals involving Southern Baptists
16.7% – involve some form of evangelical, non-denominational, fundamentalism

In 2007, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) opened a probe into the finances of six televangelists who preach a “prosperity gospel”. (Prosperity Gospel is a shallow theological concept that if you give money to God or God’s work, He will give you much more money back. The more you give, the more you get = prosperity.)

This is just a probe, of course, it does not mean any of the six have done anything wrong. However, the lavish lifestyles of these six include:

- fleets of Rolls Royces…

- huge palatial mansions…

- private jets…

and other excesses — all supposedly paid for by loyal television viewers who regularly send their tithe money. There’s more:

- one “faith” preacher who routinely requires a $7,000 spending allowance–in addition to his honorarium–when he speaks at a church AND he also requires luxury transportation to and from the mall…

- one of the TV preachers now tells his audiences that those who give $2,400 in the offering will receive a “24-hour miracle”…

- some preachers now ask people in the crowd to stand if they can give large amounts of money in the offering — then, those who make the pledge are promised prophecies or special blessings…

These six ministries have demonstrated varying levels of cooperation — from reluctant disclosure (Meyers) to total defiance (Copeland). The six under investigation are as follows:

Kenneth Copeland and Gloria Copeland of Kenneth Copeland Ministries of Newark, TX (charismatic)

Creflo Dollar and Taffi Dollar of World Changers Church International and Creflo Dollar Ministries of College Park, GA (charismatic)

Benny Hinn of World Healing Center Church Inc. and Benny Hinn Ministries of Grapevine, TX (charismatic)

Eddie L. Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church and Bishop Eddie Long Ministries of Lithonia, GA (charismatic)

Joyce Meyer and David Meyer of Joyce Meyer Ministries of Fenton, MO (charismatic)

Randy White and Paula White of the multiracial Without Walls International Church and Paula White Ministries of Tampa, FL (charismatic)

What stands out about Senator Grassley’s investigation is that every one of these ministries adheres to charismatic theology and doctrine. What does this say about the theology itself? God enjoys having His sheep fleeced while His “Man” (or “Woman”) lives in palatial luxury? These excesses are not “tools for the ministry,” as is argued by Copeland and some others, these are luxuries purchased with money intended for God. Scripture is very clear that those “shepherds” that feed themselves and not “the flock” are not of God or with God. (Ezekiel 34)

Look, it’s not hard to tell what’s of God and what isn’t. You will recognize them by their fruits. If the fruits of a ministry are profits, materialism, secrecy, investigations and scandal, you are witnessing a ministry that is not of God and not with God. Also, well over half of the time, that ministry will be Charismatic in origin and nature.

It is significant that Christ is quoted in Matthew to have said, “Many will say to me…, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons, and in your name perform many miracles?’ I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from me you who practice lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7)

Prophecy, Demon Exorcisms and Miracles (i.e., faith healing) – three things that are indispensable in the Charismatic Movement…

…and also the characteristics of those God “never knew.”

The Benny & Perry Show

Benny - Paul (and his god) - and Perry (notice head-tic)

It’s my own fault -

I woke up early – at least what is early for me – and turned on the TV to check out the news -

But, after flipping through the channels for a while, like an idiot, I stopped on Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) and who did I see but the two great Prophets of our time, Benny Hinn and Perry Stone, sitting together facing each other behind a stack of papers ( I never did find out what those where – Prayer requests? Checks? Indictments?) talking about The End Times – more specifically the horsemen mentioned in Ezekiel (also in Daniel and Revelation) and why “horsemen” are mentioned when, obviously, we don’t fight wars on horseback anymore so the modern military is a little short when it comes to Fighting Horseman…

So, Benny asks of Perry, “How do you explain this?”

[Start the "Twilight Zone" music, please]

Perry Stone, be-speckled in designer frames and a stylish Christian-man goatee, responded in his usual way – shifting in his chair and jerking his head to stage-left the way he does (I wonder if this “head-jerk-tic” is a result of injuries he sustained while wrestling Demonic Spirits when he was a teenager?) -

Perry explained it this way – I’m paraphrasing, of course:

When Christ arose from the dead and some other saints rose with Him, there was an earthquake. Was there just an earthquake for the sake of an earthquake? No. The earth quaking was a direct result of Christ and those saints being brought back from the dead. So scripture also says that when Christ comes back His return will be as lightning. Some people say that His coming will be quick, as lighting is quick – and that’s fine, but I think His coming will actually be lighting. So when Christ returns, lightning will strike the earth and since saints will be raised from the dead, there will be a world-wide earthquake like never before.

As millions go up to meet Him, says Benny.

Yes. Now we’re all familiar with the EMP – the Electro Magnetic Pulse – this is the electric shock-wave that inhibits or destroys electrical activity rendering anything that uses electricity or electronics useless. I think that the event of Christ’s return will do this. Plus we know from the Bible that the Sun and Moon will be affected. Scientists tell us that the Sun is over-due for a magnetic storm that could wipe out our satellites and destroy our communications and destroy our ability to wage modern warfare. So we will be reduced to using horses again as the Afghans used them to defeat the Soviet Union in the early ’80’s.

In short the Rapture will result in the world being disabled, at least, electronically and reduced to waging war the way they used to in Ezekiel’s day.

Praise God we won’t be here, Benny quipped.

Should I even try to make sense out this? Should I even try to explain why there are horsemen (and chariots – they left out the chariots) in Ezekiel? Should I even point out that the “Rapture” is pure conjecture and never ever mentioned in Scripture? Should I point out how many documented prophecies from these two Great Prophets have been wrong? Should I point out that Jules Verne and H. G. Wells have had more predictions come true that Benny and Perry combined?

Absolutely not. Why bother.

There’s no thrill, no energy, no following – no money in the Truth.

Manilow, Lucifer & Garlock

Saw this article in the news yesterday and was reminded of the Christian, anti-rock-n-roll guru, Dr. Frank Garlock.

Read on and I’ll explain…

Mall Wants Manilow Music to Drive out Unruly Teens

March 3, 2009 – WELLINGTON, New Zealand – It’ll be Barry Manilow versus the mall rats. The New Zealand city of Christchurch hopes that putting the American crooner’s smooth and gentle tones into the mix of music to be broadcast through the central mall district can pacify unruly teens who congregate there – or at least convince them to go elsewhere.

“The intention is to change the environment in a positive way … so nobody feels threatened or intimidated,” Central City Business Association manager Paul Lonsdale told The Associated Press. “I did not say Barry Manilow is a weapon of mass destruction.”

A group of several dozen young people regularly spread rubbish, spray graffiti, get intoxicated, use drugs, swear and intimidate patrons at the outdoor mall, he said.

The city council, police and local property owners covering 410 businesses agree that “nice, easy listening” music like Manilow’s “Can’t Smile without You,” “Mandy” and other hits might change the behavior of loitering teens.

I’m afraid that if these well-meaning New Zealanders implement their plan they will be at odds with Dr. Frank Garlock, who, during the 1970’s through the early 1990’s, traveled across the USA speaking and preaching against the likes of Barry Manilow, even to the point of equating Manilow to Lucifer. Garlock, a musician and music teacher himself, had a presentation entitled “The Big Beat – A Rock Blast”, where he would stand in front of his audience with an overhead projector and a turn-table and play snippets of rock songs, show pictures of rock musicians at their worse and preach against rock music’s lyrics, lifestyle and the actual construction of the music itself – “the beat.” (I remember he had “scientific studies” and illustrations of how rock music would kill plants and alter and destroy the beat of a human heart.)

Of particular interest to Garlock was the soft-rock-stylings of Barry Manilow. In the early to mid 1970’s too many Christians were listening to and being influenced by “soft rock.” Garlock’s mission was to equate “soft rock” with all of the evil associated with “hard rock” and “acid rock.” One Garlock rant endeavored to show a connection between Barry Manilow and Lucifer mentioned in Isaiah 14.

Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to Hell, to the sides of the pit.

After reading Isaiah 14:12 – 15, Garlock would then play and read these Barry Manilow lyrics:

I’ve been alive forever,
And I wrote the very first song.
I put the words and the melodies together,
I am music,
And I write the songs.

I write the songs that make the whole world sing.
I write the songs of love and special things.
I write the songs that make the young girls cry.
I write the songs, I write the songs.

My home lies deep within you,
And I’ve got my own place in your sole.
Now, when I look out through your eyes,
I’m young again, even though I’m very old.

Oh my music makes you dance
And gives your spirit to take a chance,
And I wrote some rock ‘n’ roll so you can move.
Music fills your heart,
Well, that’s a real fine place to start.
It’s from me it’s for you,
It’s from you, it’s from me,
It’s a world wide symphony.

I am music, and I write the songs.

The “I” in Barry Manilow’s hit, “I Write the Songs” is, according to Dr. Frank Garlock, Lucifer, a.k.a., the Devil.

And now you know the rest of the story.

Manilowed or Garlocked?

The Global Conspiracy to turn Barry Manilow into a Weapon of Mass Dispersion has moved to the United States – specifically, the state of Colorado – where, apparently, Municipal Court judges are sentencing the guilty to be “Manilowed.”I give you the following…

Got A Noise Problem? Call Barry Manilow.

Tue Mar 3, 2009 1:55pm PST

Strong evidence is finally emerging that songster Barry Manilow, the man famous for warbling “I Write The Songs,” can rightfully lay claim to having officially displaced elevator kings Muzak as the undisputed leader in music that lulls people to sleep–or at least into peaceful submission.

Just a few months ago, a judge in Colorado decided to “try something new” in order to cut down on the number of repeat noise offenders whose blaring stereos or high-decibel band rehearsals were driving their neighbors crazy. Since fines weren’t working as a deterrent, Judge Paul Sacco of Fort Lupton Municipal Court opted for a different form of punishment: He sentenced the guilty parties to an uninterrupted hour of loudly played music by — you guessed it — Barry Manilow.

And it worked: Most of Judge Sacco’s lawbreakers chose to turn down their own music rather than face another harrowing 60-minute aural onslaught of the likes of “Mandy,” “Copacabana,” and “Looks like We Made It.”

Once again this is contrary to what Dr. Frank Garlock has been saying for years – that Barry Manilow and Lucifer (a.k.a., the Devil) have been co-writing songs since Barry stepped out of Bette Midler’s top-heavy shadow way back in the very early 1970’s. You would think that if Manilow Music was the Music from Hell it wouldn’t pacify criminals, but would, rather, intensify their criminal behavior.

1979 BJU "Vintage"

Could Dr. Frank Garlock have been wrong? After all Dr. Garlock has his earned Doctorate from Bob Jones University and has taken every graduate course offered by the prestigious Eastman School of Music — Garlock sat under Howard Hanson, who headed up Eastman for 40 years. Garlock led the music at the old Independent-Fundamental version of Southside Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina for years (under Pastor Walt Hanford) – singing and intermittently blatting on his trombone in the middle of solemn hymns. Later Garlock founded Majesty Music in Greenville (South Carolina, again) along with his son-in-law, Ron “Patch-the-Pirate-and-if-I-have-to-hear-one-more-time-how-he-lost-his-eye-to-cancer-I’m-going-to-go-crazy” Hamilton. Certainly Dr. Garlock knows more about music than I do…

In his 1971 album release, “The Big Beat – A Rock Blast”, Garlock prided himself on making what he called “bold statements.” Here’s one:

“Tell me the kind of music you like to hear, the kind of music you like to perform, and I’ll tell you what kind of a person you are.”

Really.

So – if I listen to Barry Manilow, am I a reformed criminal? Or am I a follower of Satan?

Or am I just an Old Queen…..?

Garlock – Half-Baked?

Would you buy music from this man?

If you’ve read the last two posts regarding the Barry Manilow articles then you already know that the mere mention of Manilow’s name conjures up in my mind the toothy, smiling, white haired-white suited image of Dr. Frank Garlock. Kind of like the mention of the drug Oxycontin brings to mind Rush Limbaugh. It wasn’t the brilliance of Garlock’s “bold statements” that stuck in my head, it was their unadulterated idiocy.

I mean, come on! “I Write the Songs” is Satan channeling through Barry Manilow?

Dr. Garlock can’t really believe that – so what’s his real agenda?

Just seems strange to me, and a little coincidental, that as Dr. Garlock criss-crossed North America, speaking and selling books, that he was at the same time creating a need – or, in the vernacular of a good ol’ American capitalist, a market. He was encouraging Christians (and anybody else who would listen) to throw out their “bad” music – everything from Burt Bacharach, Herb Alpert (& the Tijuana Brass), The Carpenters, all country music (unless it was truly “western”) and even some musicals (“West Side Story” comes to mind) to some so-called “inspirational” or “Christian” music (more on that later) – there wasn’t much left to listen to.

Thankfully, Frank Garlock could compose and play the trombone, and Garlock’s wife, Flora-Jean, could compose and play the piano AND they both had access to recording studios at WMUU-FM (Greenville, SC) and at Bob Jones University…

Do I hear opportunity knocking?

Frank Garlock's mode of travel during the mid-70's -- a white Corvette with "Garlock" vanity plates.

Wasn’t too long before Garlock seminars, books, LPs, 8-tracks and cassettes began to appear in churches, in religious newsletters, in Christian colleges – even my Dad bought a Flora-Jean Garlock 8-track (he still has it) at a Garlock music seminar. The kiddies weren’t left out — soon, “Patch-the-Pirate” music was available from the newly formed “Majesty Music” founded by Patch-the-Pirate’s (a.k.a. Ron Hamilton’s) father-in-law, Dr. Frank Garlock. Garlock had managed to create a niche market for him and his company by shrewdly filling a musical void that he himself had created.

 Not only that, Dr. Garlock & Co. had implanted the notion that the music he approved of, the music he wrote, the music he recorded, the music he sold, was the music approved of by God the Almighty Himself.

So if you’re a Christian – ask yourself: Are you going to listen to God’s music or are you going to listen to “the Devil’s” music? Hmmm? How about your kids? Are you going to let “Barney” sing to your kids or are you going to let “Patch-the Pirate” sing to them God’s Holy Word?

Brilliant, Dr. Garlock. Absolutely brilliant. “Wise as a serpent” indeed!

Garlock, Music & Me

Music has played two major roles in my life:

1.) Entertainment / background noise

2.) A source of much trouble.

The trouble began, not when my Grandpa Ektachrome gave me my first AM transistor radio or when my school-bus driver, Morris Bickers, installed an AM radio on the school-bus tuned to “Music Radio WLS Chicago” or even when I used to listen to my Dad & Mom’s collection of 1950’s & 1960’s rock-n-roll 45’s – no – the trouble began when a wave of religious fundamentalism rolled through our little Illinois village in the mid-1970’s and, for me, sucked all of the fun out of the music.

The day the music died? For me it was when Dr. Frank Garlock & his “Big Beat” seminar rolled through town. He was flashy, well spoken and charismatic. He spoke the unspeakable to my parents – telling them of the “true meanings” behind the music, laying bare the corrupt hearts of the rock artists and explaining how these evil musicians where after my very soul. “Watch out!” Garlock would shout, “Garbage in, garbage out!”

Suddenly, if I liked it and it had a beat, I couldn’t listen to it. It didn’t matter if it was Karen Carpenter, The Eagles, Pablo Cruise or Black Sabbath.

My Dad had worked at Kroger’s for a while just before and after he married my Mom. Dad used to buy for Mom the #1 record (always a 45) every week and give it to Mom. In those days it was usually an Elvis hit, but not always. I grew up listening to that massive collection of early rock-n-roll hits – but after Dr. Garlock and his “Magical Musical Tour” blew through town, that record collection was destroyed in the literal flames of a “spiritual revival” that gripped my Mom’s conscience. Those 45’s all melted away in the 55 gallon drum our family used to burn trash.

Along with many of my 8-tracks and cassettes purchased with the money I earned mowing yards in the summer…

Happy, Frank?

[How often my parents have regretted burning what may have been a valuable collection of forgotten and rare 45's. Now they spend money reacquiring all of those hits on CD and driving to see a local Elvis impersonator perform. And, yes, they've apologized to me for destroying my property along with theirs.]

The day that Elvis Presley died in August, 1977, Dr. Bob Jones referred to Elvis as “one of the greatest idolaters of the 20th century” – the implication was that Dr. Bob Jones and Bob Jones University would not miss Elvis Presley. (There was the same lack of respect and derision a few short years later when John Lennon was shot. In fact, it was that same year that Dr. Bob Jones, Jr. sported an Elvis-like / rock-star silver sequined jacket on the stage of the FMA at BJU – on the back of the jacket in circular-45-record-label-ish lettering were the words, “Big Bob #1.”) It was into this atmosphere I was thrust in September 1978, when, obeying my well-meaning parents, I enrolled at Bob Jones University.

It was at Bob Jones University I ran into Dr. Garlock again and had to hear his “Big Beat” lecture again during Freshman Orientation in the Concert Center. It was at this lecture in 1978 that I heard Dr. Garlock touch on a form or style of music I was unfamiliar with – “Christian Rock.” I had never heard of it. But Dr. Garlock was all over it – it was deemed evil and was to be avoided like all other “rock” variants.

All we could listen to at BJU was approved hymns, of course, and classical music or opera.

I hate classical music. I hate opera.

No one really likes classical music – they only like classical music because other people like classical music.

And opera is a slow Death by Music in roughly three and a half hours.

Thanks alot, Richard & Karen...

In 1979, The Carpenters earned me 50 demerits (see “BJU Artifacts” on the Flikr link.)

In 1980, creating a fake rock band on stage in the ConcertCenter (and photographing it) got me fired from my Stage Crew job.

In 1981, had George Winston’s “Autumn” taken away from me. That’s right – George Winston. BJU considered the music “trance-like and drug related.”

As I aged, pop/rock music became less and less of an issue for me. It was in the summer of 1981 when I decided I would listen to what I liked. The so-called “evil” that Dr. Garlock had preached against was merely marketing by shrewed music producers tapping into the angst of being a teenager and not wanting to be ”like your parents.”  Ironically, pop/rock music started to drift away from me, and I gravitated toward instrumental jazz*, until, by 1989, I no longer listened to “Top 40.”

It was in 1990 at Pensacola Christian College I crossed paths with Dr. Garlock again. This time he no longer dealt solely with the perils of “hard rock” or “acid rock” – by this time he had started to concentrated on the new evil of “Christian Rock” which had become known as “CCM” or “Contemporary Christian Music.”

And, to my shock, I found myself occassionally agreeing with him!

 
*Jazz, in any form, is not approved of at BJU.  Neither are movie soundtracks if the movie has been newly released.  For example, John William’s Star Wars soundtrack was not allowed when I attended.

“The Big Beat” Within

“The Big Beat – A Rock Blast” by Dr. Frank Garlock has, like the rock music it condemns, become out-of-date, antiquated and ineffective. Just as Jefferson Airplane persuades no one to drop acid anymore, Frank Garlock’s tirades against Deep Purple, Iron Butterfly or Alice Cooper have no effect. His album and book belong in a time capsule devoted to Religious Fundamentalism of the late-20th Century.

It could be said that Dr. Garlock’s preaching and demonstrating did absolutely nothing to slow down the progression of rock music or country music in the 1970’s. In fact, the industry seemed to blossom and expand from hard/acid rock and soft rock to country rock, disco, hip-hop, rap, dance, electronica, fusion, smooth jazz, new age and more during the era of the ‘70’s. It’s as if Dr. Garlock’s condemnation of pop music accelerated its growth and expansion. Garlock’s outrageousness only served to marginalize him and his ideas, making him popular only among the Independent Fundamentalists who tend to be conservative anyway.

The energy Dr. Garlock spent making outrageous “bold statements” while creating a market for he and his son-in-law’s “Majesty Music” business by condemning the likes of Grace Slick and Barry Manilow, should’ve been spent on warning churches not to allow church music to be influenced by current and future popular culture. Rock music and its many variants, is nothing more than a reflection of the current state and attitude of the world in which the music was created. The music has a life-span – it’s created, serves its purpose and then is forgotten. That’s what pop music is – it’s temporary, it’s fleeting, it’s shifting – and that’s why popular music shouldn’t influence or be a part of what Christians consider eternal and immutable.

[To be fair to Dr. Garlock, here in the early part of the 21st Century, Garlock currently does instruct churches on keeping their music straight - much akin to closing the barn door after the horse has escaped. This lack of "musical foresight" only makes me even more suspicious about Dr. Garlock's motives during the "Big Beat" era. ("Majesty Music" does sell a lot of church music, written and approved by Dr. Garlock & Co.)]

Like parallel lines that appear to meet at a vanishing point on the horizon line, Dr. Garlock and I appear to have a point of agreement – popular music, even music composed based on popular music models has no place in a church where the point of the gathering is to worship an unchanging and eternal God and direct human thought toward Him and about Him.

Popular Culture / Popular Music can be characterized as:

1. Novelty…
- focuses on the new
- relies on spectacle (and tending toward violence & prurience)
- emphasizes the trivia of life

2. Simplistic Predictability…
- gives us what we want, tells us what we already know
- formulas are the substance
- governed by the Mass Market (commercialism)

3. Popular Aesthetics…
- appeals to sentimentality
- celebrates fame (you are nothing unless you are famous)
- life & art are continuous

4. Distraction…
- casual pursuit, used to “kill time”
- relies on instant gratification, impatience
- thwarts deep or sustained attention

Popular Culture / Popular Music entertains and then leaves us where it found us – unchanged and empty. Popular Music is bought and sold as a commodity – a commodity that is used, worn out then tossed aside in favor of what is new.

The faces of 21st Century Christian Music.

One common denominator among so-called “spirit-driven” or Charismatic / Pentecostal churches is their use of the beat-driven, pop-derived Contemporary Christian Music or CCM. It’s no coincidence that these tongue-speaking religious sects rely on the spectacle and physical involvement that CCM demands. CCM and the charismatic tongue-speaking sects go together, hand-in-hand, guided by the same spirit – the human spirit.

CCM and Popular Music are indistinguishable – in sound, in structure and in the way the music is marketed and sold. The only difference is the inane lyrics which rely heavily on repetition and sound, not doctrine and Scripture. Again, the physical spirit is the one who is being praised and entertained.

If churches were ever in danger from “The Big Beat” it is now.

Only now, “The Big Beat” is coming from within.

Is It OK to Pray?

Is it okay to pray? 

Certainly church-going folk, religious people, Christians – they think it’s okay to pray, but the majority seldom do it – except on Sundays or when they’re in trouble.

Other religions say it’s okay to pray.  Islam, for example, requires the devout Muslim to pray five times a day.  Other religions may call prayer “meditation”, “centering” or “channeling” – but they all maintain that prayer or something prayer-like is okay to do.

Even Atheists agree that prayer can’t do any harm.  However, it’s a waste of time since there isn’t anyone listening, except you.  There may be benefits from the act of being still, meditating and relaxing – but if you think you are mentally or telepathically communicating with a “god” somewhere, you’re just being silly.  Still, no harm done, really.

The local attorney for the Northwest Florida ACLU, Benjamin Stevenson said Wednesday (March 18) that the ACLU supports everyone’s right to pray.  Mr. Stevenson continued, “We continue to fight for the liberty to worship without undue impediments from the government. Inherent in religious liberty is the freedom from government actors using their official position to harness the government’s resources and advantages to promote their own personal religious beliefs.”

So where’s the problem? Everyone should be happy, right?

The Reverend Cotten. Note the Christian-man Beard

Not the Rev. Matthew A. Cotten, Minister of Education & Outreach at the Pine Terrace Baptist Church of Milton, located in Santa Rosa County, Florida.  The Rev. Cotten wants to make sure people know it is OK to pray despite the ACLU.  “We will educate people on their rights according to the First Amendment and express the heritage of our country in regard to freedom of religion,” said Minister Cotton.  “I believe you can peacefully express your religion any place, any time.”

Uh – yeah, Reverend – so does the ACLU.

So why is this preacher all upset?

Reverend Cotten’s remarks are in response to a federal lawsuit filed in August by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of two unnamed Pace High School students who objected to Santa Rosa School District personnel promoting religious activity in the classroom and at school events.  The School District admitted the allegations, and a consent decree spelling out the steps the district will take to end the violations was signed this month. (See my prior blog, “Charismatics – Why We Need the ACLU“)

Tallahassee attorney J. David Marsey, who represented the district in the suit, noted at the time that the agreement stops only School District-sanctioned prayer.

“Nothing prevents our kids from praying,” Marsey said.

But the Reverend Cotten, a father of two, one of whom is a Pace High sophomore, still objects to the limits imposed by the consent degree.

“I had to do something,” he said. So, he set up a web site, www.ok2pray.org.

Fine, Reverend Cotten – but – is it okay for you to twist or spin or borderline-lie about the ACLU case against the Santa Rosa County schools?

No where is prayer not permitted. No where is there any language prohibiting students or faculty from praying. Anyone can pray at anytime they like.

The ruling says you can’t force others to pray with you.

And that is exactly what was (and has been) going on at Pace High School (and other Santa Rosa County schools) for years. Faculty, staff and students forcing, not by coercion (that I know of), but by inclusion, others to pray or hear preaching (sometimes with a bullhorn) against their will. This is clearly spelled out in the ACLU suit and the judges ruling – even the superintendent of the Santa Rosa County schools admitted to the suit’s accusations.

But that’s not good enough for Reverend Cotten – he wants prayer enforced.

How about this Reverend, we build these towers all over Santa Rosa County and at certain times during the day, we can have various preachers (like Pastor Joey Rogers from Pace Assembly of God) shout from these towers when it’s time to pray. Then, everyone in Santa Rosa County, students, faculty, whatever, will bow down and pray – maybe give them a blanket or mat so they won’t get their clothes dirty – call it a “prayer mat” if you like…

How’s that sound, Reverend Cotten?

Tell you what – you’re a Southern Baptist, how about next Sunday we get your fellow ACLU-hating buddy, Pastor Joey Rogers from Pace Assembly of God to come to your church and preach to your congregation about how they and all other Southern Baptists are wrong and on their way to hell because they don’t speak in tongues?

How would you like that, Reverend Cotten?

This is so typical of Religiosity. Reverend Cotten is willing to join hands with a sect (Charismatics) that, doctrinally, he considers a heresy, just so he can enforce his own religious beliefs upon others.

Is it okay to pray?

The answer is, sure – if you choose to. God is Pro-Choice, after all…

But I don’t want some religion telling me I have to.

Prayer & Sacrifice – Not

Yesterday, after my post, I got to thinking – if the good Rev-er-end Cotten, a minister at the Pine Terrace Baptist Church (SBC), Milton, Florida, doesn’t care for the local schools, why doesn’t he send his kids to a private religious school?  Or Home School them?  If he can set up his own web-site, surely he can teach a couple of kids – right?

Besides, I thought “being separate” is what Christians are supposed to do – “come out from among them” and “remain unspotted from the world”, etc., etc.

Here’s a list of private religious schools in Santa Rosa County Florida:

http://schools.privateschoolsreport.com/county/FL/SantaRosa.html (there are 7 schools)

In near-by Escambia County (across the bay)…

http://schools.privateschoolsreport.com/county/FL/Escambia.html (there are 28 (!) Private Schools (not all of them have religious affiliations). Talk about choice!

I’ll bet any one of these private schools would love to have the Reverend Cotten’s children.

So why is this guy so interested in changing the public schools?

Number one reason – because he pays for them, indirectly, via his local property taxes – if he owns a home or property. The amount of his individual property tax is a tiny portion of the Santa Rosa County School’s funding – so why should he have such a large say in school policy? His desires, his “say”,  should be in proportion to his monetary contribution.

Number two reason – his kid(s) attend public school. But why? He can change that. If he wants his kids to be religiously indoctrinated at school on a daily basis, then why doesn’t he as a free American choose another school? Or, teach them at home?

Could it be that Minister Cotten’s choice of his children attending public school is not based on religion or even education, but on money?

Whaddya wanna bet he doesn’t like the idea of paying school tuition every month? And transporting his offspring to Private School every morning?  Why that would mean serious financial involvement with his children’s education — maybe even sacrifices!  (Not goats or lambs, but selling the SUV or pick-up or the bass boat or the HDTV or…)

No such thing as bad press.

Yes, my friends, like everything else, money is the real factor here…

…and ego.

OK – Not OK – OK – Not OK to Pray

During my absence (I was on vacation), the Reverend Matthew A. Cotten, Minister of Education & Outreach at the Pine Terrace Baptist Church located in Milton, Florida, held his “Okay To Pray” rally at Pace High School. According to the Pensacola News Journal archived article, the rally was held on Saturday, March 21 and about 100 people attended.

Over the past couple of weeks, I received some rather interesting information about the Reverend Matthew Cotten. Seems the Reverend Cotten has wrestled with the subject of public prayer before -

But – during his last encounter with the public and open prayer he was very much against it.

It was back in August of 2004. There was a group of people called “Patriots for Peace” and “Veterans for Peace” that, on Fridays at noon, would hold a “silent prayer vigil” at the Martin Luther King Plaza located along North Palafox Street in downtown Pensacola, Florida. This group “Patriots for Peace” would gather in the plaza, join hands and pray silently for the end of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

That’s all this group would do – carry signs and placards (“Pray for Peace”, “No Blood for Oil”, “Stop the War”, “Give Peace a Chance”, etc.), stand in a circle, join hands -

- and pray.

Pace High Rally -- Rev. Cotten -- TODAY it is OK to pray.

Apparently this didn’t sit well with the Reverend Cotten who, according to my witness, walked down to the location of the silent prayer vigil and verbally harassed the group of citizens praying there. Seems the Reverend Cotten did not appreciate the public and open expression of prayer when it went against his beliefs. My witness, who was present at the event, remembered the Reverend Cotten accusing the “Patriots for Peace” of being a front for the ACLU, the Democratic Party and trying to undermine the presidency and re-election of then President George W. Bush.

I don’t have the details of how or why Reverend Cotten happened to be in downtown Pensacola, Florida that day. I don’t know if this was a one time occurrence or if the Reverend Cotten regularly harassed public prayer vigils he did not agree with.  [If anyone does know, I'd love to hear.]

Is it okay to pray?

In August 2004, Reverend Matthew Cotten would have said “NO.”

Hurricanes for Iowa

Why do I do this to myself?

After making a pot of coffee I turned on the TV to see if I could catch the weather before I hit the shower. I did catch the tail-end of the forecast – a nice weekend ahead – but I missed all of those cool satellite images and the stories of weather related disasters affecting other people in less fortunate locations.

At the commercial break, I flipped through the channels – going “up” in the count (on my cable system) – past C-SPAN and into the religious channels that inhabit channels 21 through 23.

And who did I see?

My favorite goateed, be-speckled prophet (with noticeable head-tic), Perry Stone.

He was claiming that the destruction by hurricanes of New Orleans, Louisiana and Galveston, Texas was a direct judgment of God for the sin of homosexuality. Stone used two examples to back up his claims -

1) the day Hurricane Katrina hit there was scheduled a huge “Gay Parade” that would include thousands of gay men dressed in drag.

2) the city of Houston and Galveston (Texas) had become the newest home for homosexuals who loved living near the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Stone claimed that one of his favorite Galveston family seafood restaurants was not the same because of the influx of homosexuals over-running the beaches and the town.

So, according to Perry Stone, God directly destroyed both cities – New Orleans and Galveston – just like He (God) destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah according to the story in the Old Testament.

Wow.

Now, let’s analyze these Perry Stone claims -

1) Hurricanes regularly strike the Gulf Coast (Gulf of Mexico) and the Atlantic Coast (Atlantic Ocean). It is not an unusual thing at all to have hurricanes forming between June 1 and November 30 of any given year. That’s not a “miracle” or a “judgment” – that’s wind & weather, water vapor & water temperature, rotation & the Coriolis Effect – that’s the nature of living in the Tropics.

2) Name any city along the Atlantic or Gulf Coast - any city – and during their history they have been hit or affected by a tropical storm. What was their “sin?” The Galveston Hurricane of September 8, 1900 — 8,000 citizens of Galveston perished – 8000! I dare say “good Christians” out-numbered the “evil homosexuals” in those days. Was this God’s judgment on Christianity?

3) Hurricane Katrina was the most recent major storm in New Orleans history, but its trajectory across the State of Louisiana was far from unique. Louisiana was hit by 49 of the 273 hurricanes that made landfall on the American Atlantic Coast between 1851 and 2004. In addition, 18 of the 92 major hurricanes with Saffir-Simpson ratings of Category 3 or above have struck the state (U.S. mainland hurricane strikes by state, 1851-2004). On average, one major storm crosses within 100 nautical miles of New Orleans every decade. In spite of what you hear about the city of New Orleans, the rest of the state of Louisiana is fairly conservative and religious.  Are these constant hurricanes God’s judgment on conservative Christians?

4) Many innocent people lost their lives in Hurricane Katrina (New Orleans) and in Hurricane Ike (Galveston) – some lost only their homes, businesses and pets. Was this God’s judgment on them – or did He fail to realize that so many God-fearing innocents lived along the coast?

5) Perry Stone seems to think hurricanes are something new in God’s Arsenal of Judgment. Hurricanes of the last few years – Katrina and Ike – are small change compared to the death and devastation rendered by the Tropical Cyclone (Hurricane) of November 13, 1970 in Bangladesh which killed 500,000 to 1,000,000 (final count unknown). Was this God’s judgment on the majority non-Muslim residents of Bangladesh? Using Perry Stone’s logic, there must have been a secret society of Drag Queens living in Bangladesh that we didn’t know about…

6) Does God hate Catholicism? Seems so. Look at what Hurricane Mitch did to predominately Catholic Honduras and Nicaragua in 1998 – approximately 9086 people lost their lives. And it doesn’t stop there – Hurricane Jeanne struck Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Bahamas and Florida in September, 2004 and 3000 people – again mostly God-fearing heterosexuals – lost their lives.

God's Weather Man -- Perry Stone

There is no miracle of Divine direct judgment here. Perry Stone is a nothing more than the usual religious crack-pot – a liar, a fraud and a fear-monger that seeks to make a living off of the feeble-minded and the uninformed. Perry Stone weaves a web of half-truths mixed with Biblical References and backs it all up with “visions” and “instructions” he receives from the Holy Spirit or God Himself. This is the same Perry Stone that wrestled demons as a teenager and claims to have seen the destruction of the World Trade Center and the creation of the Euro years before either happened. This is the same Perry Stone that claims his “Manna Fest” meal he sells (on his website) will physically heal you – if you buy it and eat it. This is the same Perry Stone that sits in agreement with the likes of Paul & Jan Crouch and the faith-healing fraud, Benny Hinn.

People - please – don’t fall for this stuff!  Use the brain God gave you – research – check out the claims made by these religious swindlers.

Yesterday, April 3, 2009, the Supreme Court of the State of Iowa legalized same-sex marriages – “gay marriages” – joining the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut in permitting such unions between same sexes.

According to Perry Stone, the State of Iowa can expect a Category 5 hurricane this year.

Now that would be a miracle.

Pensacola Peculiar

“But ye are a chosen generation,…a peculiar people…” I Peter 2:9, KJV

Pensacola, Florida – population approximately 56,000. Located in Northwest Florida, U.S.A. on the Gulf Coast. Known for its sugar white sand beaches and for being the birth-place of U.S. Naval Aviation.

Also home for many a religious nut-burger…

Michael Griffin

Michael Griffin – murdered Dr. David Gunn in Pensacola, Florida on March 10, 1993. The 31-year-old Griffin waited outside Gunn’s clinic and shot him three times in the back. At home Michael Griffin forbade all television-watching in his house because he thought TV was too violent. A recent convert to fundamentalist Christianity, Griffin joined the Brownsville Assembly of God church, and then dropped out after quarreling with the pastor, the Rev. John Kilpatrick. Griffin then joined the fundamentalist Charity Chapel where he met his anti-abortion guide and mentor John Burt. Mr. Griffin is currently serving time in a Florida Correctional Institution.

John Burt

John Burt – a former KKK member and anti-abortion activist who became associated with the murders and the murderers of abortion clinic doctors and workers in the 1990’s. Burt, a part-time preacher/full-time anti-abortion activist, operated “Our Father’s House”, a Christian ministry and shelter for unwed mothers. In 2003 Burt was arrested for molesting a 15-year-old girl in his custody. John Burt is currently serving time in a Florida Correctional Institution.

Paul Hill

Paul Hill – an ordained Presbyterian minister (PCA & Orthodox Presbyterian) Hill was thrown out of the Presbyterian Church after appearing on TV advocating violence against doctors who practice abortions. In July 1994, Hill approached a Pensacola abortion clinic located on North 9th Avenue (the same clinic that John Burt regularly protested) and shot and killed Dr. John Britton and his clinic escort, James Barrett at close range with a shotgun. Mrs. James Barrett was wounded, but survived. Paul Hill is no longer serving time in a Florida Correctional Institution – he was executed by the State of Florida.

Steve Hill

Steve Hill & John Kilpatrick & Brownsville Assembly of God – perpetrators of one of the greatest religious farces known in Northwest Florida – or in the U.S.A., for that matter. It started on Father’s Day 1995 when Steve Hill spoke at the church, zapped the church’s pastor (Kilpatrick) on the head causing Kilpatrick to fall to the floor. Kilpatrick later declared that revival had broken out. Soon people from all over the country were flocking to the church to participate in the altered states that caused them to

Kilpatrick

speak in tongues, bark like dogs, grunt like pigs, laugh uncontrollably and behave in other bizarre and wacky ways. There was plenty of criticism of the so-called “revival” - it brought in a lot of money and recognition for those involved – and Pastor Kilpatrick never hesitated in condemning and cursing those who criticized his church’s revival. So far all those Kilpatrick cursed are still living. The “Brownsville Revival” died out – Steve Hill and John Kilpatrick are no longer associated with Brownsville Assembly of God.

Hugh King, Sr.

Reverend Hugh King, Sr. – the Rev. King is a former Pensacola City Councilman and former pastor of the Greater Union Baptist Church. He’s the “former pastor” because the Reverend King was arrested on April 28, 2007 for cocaine possession, after which he was removed as pastor. The former Reverend is currently fighting the charges claiming the Escambia County Sheriff’s Deputy that stopped King’s SUV searched King’s vehicle illegally. Claims of profiling and racism have also been bandied about. The former Reverend King is still awaiting trial and will not go down without a fight.  [July 8, 2009 update: Rev. King has been let of the hook.  The reason?  The police did not have "reasonable suspicion" to pull over the vehicle King was in at the time.  So, the discovery of cocaine on this Man of God would have never occurred. ~ Ekta]

Kent Hovind

Kent Hovind – also known as “Dr. Dino” – although his educational background is, shall we say, dubious, to say the least. Hovind was a purveyor of the “Young Earth Theory” claiming that the Earth and all we know is no older than 6000 to 8000 years old. His “proofs” lacked any scientific credibility and were based solely on the Biblical Record – starting with Adam & Eve, Noah & the Ark and so on. Hovind had a reputation for being condescending, egotistical, paranoid and ill-tempered. His chief sin was ignoring a little agency called the I.R.S. – Hovind refused to pay taxes of any kind claiming the money was his and God’s. Mr. Hovind was reported to the Internal Revenue Service by a neighbor and fellow Christian, Dr. Rebekah “Beka” Horton (of “A Beka Books” and Pensacola Christian College). Kent Hovind is currently spending time in a Florida Correctional Institution.

Chuck Baldwin

Chuck Baldwin – conservative, political pastor of the Crossroads Baptist Church in Pensacola. Became a local talk-show host with aspirations of being the next Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity. Surprisingly, Baldwin was a huge critic of George W. Bush and stood in agreement with the ACLU on the implementation of the Bush/Cheney “Patriot Act.” Some Pensacolians have been critical of Baldwin saying that he should give up his pulpit if he wants to be a politician. Baldwin ran as a 2008 Presidential Candidate for the Constitution Party last November – you may have noticed his name on the ballot? No? I’m not surprised.

Gordon Godfrey

Gordon Godfrey – pastor of the Marcus Pointe Baptist Church in Pensacola. Known during the mid-1990’s for putting up huge billboards with anti-gay statements protesting homosexuals gathering during Memorial Day on Pensacola Beach. Godfrey also advocated throwing nails and tacks in the beach parking lots when the predominately gay crowd frequented the local beaches. In 2006 Godfrey was convicted of baiting deer and hunting deer in the State of Wisconsin without a license. Godfrey never fought the charges. He quietly paid the fines.  For more Gordo info, click here.

 

Drs. Harfouche

Christian & Robin Harfouche – operators of the Faith Miracle Center in Pensacola. Christian Harfouche is your typical “faith-healer” – some controversies surrounding his so-called “healings” – unethical, but not illegal. Robin, his wife, is an ex-Solid Gold Dancer (remember that show?). Besides, I just like saying “Harfouche.”

 

Peter Ruckman

Dr. Peter S. Ruckman – long time pastor of the Bible Baptist Church in Pensacola and President of the Pensacola Bible Institute. Dr. Ruckman is shockingly irreverent and the total opposite of politically correct. Dr. Ruckman rarely teaches or preaches without drawing or sketching with colored chalk as he speaks. Ruckman believes and teaches that the Authorized Version 1611 King James Version Bible is the only true Word of God – all other Bibles are inferior and heretical. He believes in the literal word-for-word inerrancy of the KJV Bible. Yet, unlike most fundamentalist preachers, Dr. Ruckman has had several failed marriages – which, according to the KJV Scriptures disqualifies him as a pastor. “Ruckman-ites” are the “Preacher Boys” that attend Ruckman’s Bible Institute. The Preacher Boys are forced to street preach at busy Pensacola intersections as part of their training for the ministry.

Drs. Horton

Drs. Arlin & Beka Horton – founders of Pensacola Christian Academy and Pensacola Christian College, but are better known world-wide for their Christian textbooks, “A Beka Books.” Both Horton’s are graduates of Bob Jones University but now have nothing to do with BJU because BJU (BJ Press) is their largest competitor in the Christian textbook market. In recent years the Horton’s have called BJU “the leaven of fundamentalism” and have said that BJ Press science books promote “natural selection and Darwinism.” The explosive growth of A Beka Books and ABB’s tax-exempt status has caught the attention of the Internal Revenue Service several times, causing ABB and PCC to pay several million dollars in back taxes. It was Mrs. Horton that reported Kent Hovind (“Dr. Dino”) to the local IRS office for not paying his taxes. It is also said that Mrs. Horton is the real “brains” and micro-manager of ABB and PCC. She controls everything from the colors of the faculty houses to what the Campus Church (the PCC on-campus church) preacher preaches on Sunday. Local Escambia County politicians have learned if they want to be easily elected they must find favor in the eyes of PCC – because PCC dictates to their employees and students who to vote for.

Peculiar Pensacola…

…maybe there’s something in the sun-screen.

Putting the “Me” in Memorial

It has been a rough year for law enforcement in Northwest Florida – “rough” is an understatement – so far the year has been a mixture of scandal, violence and tragedy.

Beginning in July 2008, Okaloosa County Deputy Anthony Forgione was shot and killed by a man in Fort Walton Beach.

In the late winter (Feb.) of 2009 it was revealed that Okaloosa County Sheriff Charlie Morris ran a bonus & kick-back scheme that involved himself, members of his administration and other deputies. Sheriff Morris and the others involved have been fired and/or indicted and await trial.

And just east of Crestview, Pensacola Police Officer Travis Pitts was killed March 28, 2009 in a single-vehicle auto accident while on his way to preach to inmates in a Gulf County jail.

And if that wasn’t enough, on April 25, 2009, two Okaloosa County Deputies, Burt Lopez and Skip Ward, were shot and killed in Crestview.

Death, scandal, followed by more death. If there was ever a situation that demanded quiet respect and solemn reflection, this would be it.

So how did Pastor Gordon Godfrey, Pastor of Marcus Pointe Baptist Church (Pensacola) handle the memorial at his church’s 16th annual “Law Enforcement Appreciation Day” held Sunday, May 4, 2009?  From the Pensacola News Journal….

The lights went down at Marcus Pointe Baptist Church on Sunday morning and “Bad Boys” blared from the speakers.

A law enforcement officer rolled down an aisle on a motorcycle. Another officer rappelled from the ceiling on a rope near the rear of the church. Three others — one of them head first — dropped from the ceiling to the pulpit.

That is how the 16th annual Law Enforcement Appreciation Day got under way.

“It give us a sense of pride in knowing that we had a part in honoring you guys and ladies,” said the Rev. Gordon Godfrey, pastor at Marcus Pointe.

Pink arrow: Pastor Godfrey enjoying the show.

Honoring fallen comrades with piety, with respect, with quiet solemn reflection and gratitude is the right and proper thing for a so-called “house of God” to do. Turning the service into a circus act or a Broadway stage performance is not.

Hollow spectacle, loud music and shallow thinking — all trademarks of Gordon Godfrey and Marcus Pointe Baptist Church, et al.

However – if you’re going to have a “Law Enforcement Appreciation Day” at your church, it’s best to get a pastor who is actually familiar with law enforcement…

…like Gordon Godfrey.

January 2006 – The Rev. Gordon Godfrey of Marcus Pointe Baptist Church pleaded no contest to seven charges of various hunting law violations — the state of Wisconsin dropped two of the charges. Godfrey did not travel to Wisconsin and instead pled through his attorney by telephone. Pastor Godfrey will lose his hunting license and will have to pay $1,421 in fines for violating Wisconsin hunting laws.

Did I mention who Pastor Godfrey’s hunting buddies were? The Escambia County Sheriff, Ron McNesby and Escambia County Commissioner Mike Whitehead – these two were also charged.

October 17, 2004 – A repeat guest speaker at Marcus Pointe Baptist Church, Kent Hovind, a.k.a., “Dr. Dino”, was the featured speaker during the church service. Kent Hovind, a man who shared the same religious beliefs as Pastor Godfrey, now sits in a Florida Correctional Institution – a.k.a., “jail.”

August 14, 2001 – A past winner of the Marcus Pointe Baptist Church “Father of the Year” Award and church youth worker was charged with “Unlawful Sexual Activity with Certain Minors” (Fl Statute: 794.05), a second degree felony. This incident was kept hush-hush. (If you want the details about this incident, name of the defendant, court records, sentence, etc. – they’re available.)

May 30, 2001 – Pastor Gordon Godfrey was instrumental in having a Memorial Day fireworks celebration banned on Pensacola Beach. Escambia County Commissioners voted 3-2 last against the pyrotechnics celebration at Pensacola Beach. The fireworks show was supposed to be a “thank you” gesture to the community for hosting gays and lesbians who annually flock to the Florida panhandle for Memorial Day weekend.

Godfrey said it was “not an issue of gayness.” He continued, “We don’t feel it’s appropriate [to add fireworks].” (But playing Inner Circle’s “Bad Boys” theme at the beginning of a church/memorial service is.)

 

Diminutive Godfrey & Friends

Throughout the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, Marcus Pointe Baptist Church purchased giant outdoor billboards that were anti-homosexual in nature – leasing the billboards during the time of the Pensacola Beach Memorial Day weekend celebration when many homosexuals flock to the beach. It was also during this time that beach-going homosexuals complained to the Pensacola police that the beach and beach parking lots were intentionally being littered with tacks, nails and other sharp objects meant to puncture tires or injure bare feet. No direct connection to Marcus Pointe Baptist Church or Pastor Godfrey was ever established.

Football players, a deaf Miss America, an American Idol contestant, a NASCAR driver, a Golf Pro, a baseball player – and of course, the ubiquitous Kirk Cameron – Pastor Gordon Godfrey will use anyone or any organization to draw attention to himself and his church.

His latest “memorial” was just the most recent example.

But, to be fair, sounds like Pastor Godfrey needs friends in law enforcement.

Religified

 

Ektachrome finally had to admit it -- he was a lost man in a Holy World.

Recently – Friday night, to be exact – I attended an “end-of-the-school-year” program at this area’s large private Christian school. There were bands, orchestras and choirs. The performing students were all neatly scrubbed and groomed – “squeaky clean” in their appearance. Everything was orderly and in order – a pre-programmed program.

We can safely assume that the administration of this private Christian school prided themselves in constructing order from chaos – discipline from the undisciplined – after all “God is not the author of confusion” (I Cor. 14:33a) – right?

It occurred to me as I watched the neatly trimmed and conservatively dressed students go through their rehearsed performances, how different real life is – how un-ordered the real world is.

Given ultimate control, we humans will micro-manage and direct every aspect of our lives – eliminating any uncertainty, any chaos, so that nothing happens outside of our directive. In short – proper planning and removing chaos from our lives brings us closer to and more like The Author (God).

What we end up with is a whole “religified” generation of Christians who believe that living a Godly life is living a life that is well-ordered and rigidly structured so as to eliminate any possibility of random-ness (“evil”) – they are so intent on separating themselves from the world that these Christians are neither “salt” nor “light” but just weird, peculiar and out-of-place. By “being good” they believe that God will be pleased and disorder will not touch them. But – if chaos or evil does affect a Christian’s life, then the problem is not the unpredictability of life – the problem is with that individual Christian.

“No doubt the trouble is with you” – that was the phrase I was taught.

What we end up with is a situation where “being good” is never good enough. Just one of the reasons anxiety and depression are just as prevalent among Christians as they are among the pagans. We end up with Christians that are afraid to take a chance, to venture out beyond their safe, gated private schools and communities – instead, the Christians become “incestuous” – teaching Christianity for other Christians. Christians taught this way are afraid to challenge beliefs or doctrines. Instead of studying scripture and texts to see “if these things be so,” they willingly accept theory and theological guess-work as doctrine.

Christianity has become a lifestyle rather than a relationship.

Lifestyles are easy – just follow the rules.

Relationships are hard – sometimes anarchy rules.

The Man the Bible Calls “Righteous”

“Do right.”

Strangely enough the first time this simple directive appears in the Bible it is an imperfect man uttering these two words while questioning the morality and judgment of God.

Look it up yourself – Genesis 18:25.

The man is Abraham.

The situation – Abraham is interceding for the cities of Sodom & Gomorrah – much like a criminal defense attorney pleading with a judge for leniency, Abraham is trying to broker a deal for his very guilty client(s).

25) That be far from Thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked – that be far from Thee! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

Why would Abraham argue the defense of Sodom & Gomorrah before the ultimate Judge?

It wasn’t the first time Abraham defended Sodom & Gomorrah. Earlier, in Genesis 14 we are told the story of Abraham physically rescuing the leaders, the people and the goods of Sodom & Gomorrah. Abraham risked his life and the lives of his men to re-establish these two “wicked” cities.

Oh yeah – did I mention that one of Sodom’s city leaders was Abraham’s nephew Lot?

This guy, Lot, sure received a lot (sorry) of very special attention.

But what did he do to deserve it?

It must have been Lot’s strong conservative moral stance in the face of Sodom & Gomorrah’s moral bankruptcy.

Let’s look.

1) Lot offers his home as shelter and protection for two “angels” that enter the city of Sodom. [That’s good. Okay, so far.]

2) Lot offers his two virgin daughters to be raped by the townspeople gathered outside his front door. [What?!! Does “Focus on the Family” know about this?]

3) To his extended family, Lot appears to be jesting when he speaks seriously of God’s impending judgment. [Probably because Lot left all of those Richard Dawkins, Dan Barker and Sam Harris books lying about the house.]

4) Lot hesitates, protests and ultimately delays the destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah – the two angels have to physically drag Lot out of the city. [I can see Lot standing with a garden hose ready to save his house.]

5) Lot loses his wife on the way out – she is “left behind” and dies. [Ever notice in the Bible that most of the wives mentioned are bad influences on the men?]

6) After finding a cave to hide in, Lot becomes drunk and impregnates two of his daughters – he fathers his own grandkids, Moab and Ben-ammi. [This is sick – but not unprecedented – after all, where did Cain find another woman…?]

And yet, the Apostle Peter refers to Lot as “righteous” –

2 Peter 2: 7 & 8 – “…and if He rescued righteous Lot…for by what he [Lot] saw and heard that righteous man…felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with their [inhabitants of Sodom & Gomorrah] lawless deeds.”

Either there was a lot more to Lot than is mentioned in scripture, or –

– morality is a bit over-rated.

Bob Jones University Artifact – “Demerit Slip”

 

The famous BJU Demerit Slip

 

Column #1 - note that each demerit has its own 2-digit code

 

Column #2 - Some of these demerits were very minor (1 to 5 demerits) others would get you "shipped" (expelled).

 

Column #3 - The numbers had to be written in blocks so BJU's optical readers could read the codes and "Discipline Committee" lists could be generated via the University's computer system.

 

Column #4 - Love the "Other" and "Use the reverse" - just in case they missed one.

Bob Jones University Artifact – “Textbook Disclaimer”

The Official BJU "Book Disclaimer" -- all books had them, unless the book was written & published by the University.

 

This small 2″ by 3″ bit of paper was found pasted in the front of various textbooks at Bob Jones University.

 

I stuck one in the front of my Bible — the “Disclaimer” is still there.

 

Bob Jones University Artifact – “No interracial dating”

Bob Jones University Artifact – “10 Things…”

In each dormitory – men’s or women’s – on the back of each dorm room door there was a white 4×6 card with Dr. Bob Jones, Sr.’s “Ten Things to Remember” printed on it.  We weren’t required to read it or memorize it, but it was there – staring you in the face when you closed your door.

Of all the “Ten Things to Remember” it was Number 11 that was emphasized the most – “Griping Not Tolerated.”

“Griping” was defined by the administration.  I remember students being severly punished for “griping.”

All this did, of course, was drive the “griping” underground.  I have many a happy memory of underground “gripe sessions” held in various spots across campus.  My favorite: the upstairs dressing rooms in the Concert Center (now called Stratton Hall, I believe).

Bob Jones University Artifact – “Discipline Committee List”

At Bob Jones University, the “Discipline Committee” met once a week in the Alumni Building to either forgive, moderate or dispense “demerits” to individual students.  Members of the “DC” rotated — there was always a member of the administration present (a Dean), a faculty member and an upper classman/student body representative (usually a toady of the Administration) — these members sat behind a long table with the current computer generated “DC List” in front of them.  It reminded me of traffic court.

The Guilty were called in one at a time.  You gave them your name.  The offense was announced.  You were allowed a defense that may or may not moderate the charges.  After hearing the defense, punishment or “discipline” was doled out.

Small offenses were no big deal, such as being late to class — just 1 demerit.  But some offenses carried huge penalties — skipping or missing class without an excuse could get you 25 demerits and 50 demerits for a second offense.

However, repeating the same minor offense on a regular basis would cause the demerits to “multiply” — 1 demerit the first time, 2 the next, 4 the following, 8… — you get the picture.

Social infractions — kissing, hugging or just touching — earned you an instant 50 demerits and you usually were “Socialed” — meaning you could no longer “date.”

If you received a cumulative total of 75 demerits in any one semester, you were “Permanently Campused” — not allowed to leave the BJU campus for any reason.

If you received 150 demerits or more — it was over.  You were expelled.

An actual BJU "DC List"

Bob Jones University Artifact – “Extension”

This bit of Bob Jones University-ism needs some explaining…

“Extension” was a catch-all phrase used at BJU describing the efforts of the Bob Jones University students reaching out (hence, “extension”) to the local community, the surrounding counties and even near-by states.

Some Extensions were not overtly ministries – volunteering to clean the yard of an elderly couple or fixing their house for nothing, etc. – more physical labor than spiritual guidance.

There were other Extensions that were quasi-ministerial – working with elderly and the “shut-ins” in rest homes and, while there, holding church services for them – just one example.  (This is the one I participated in – occasionally.)

And then there were some Extensions that were just training exercises for future preachers – jail ministries, juvenile detention ministries, church camps, street preaching, door-to-door “witnessing” and preaching in small churches that couldn’t afford a full-time pastor – these Extensions were more “hard core” – only those “called” and “on-fire” tackled these.

Now, as a rule, participation in an Extension was not a requirement at BJU – it was optional.

But if you were so foolish to announce or publish your non-participation in Extension(s) – you were targeted as one of those students that needed to be watched and spiritually dealt with. There was such a thing as “Spiritual Probation” and failing Spiritual Probation could get you expelled just as easily (if not more easily) than Academic Probation.

So, instead of Extension, you chose to rock climb near Traveler’s Rest (making sure to stop at the F Mart on the way back), hike in the South Carolina mountains, do some outdoor photography or even study in your free time, you kept quiet about it. Letting the wrong people know you were enjoying your free time would get you on “Spiritual Pro.”

Keeping quiet didn’t guarantee you a trouble-free flight under the spiritual radar – oh no. There were little forms that you had to fill out just to let the University know how they could improve their Extension ministries…

Remember, Extension was optional – not a credited part of any class – but filling out one of these little forms truthfully could put you on the Spiritual Probation List…

Note top right question– an “APC” is Assistant Prayer Captain.  “PC” is Prayer Captain.  Each dorm room had an APC, the room’s “spiritual leader.”  Every fourth room had a PC, the spiritual leader of the APC’s and the four rooms.  Every hallway had a Hall Monitor, the spiritual leader of the hall — there were two Hall Monitor’s per hallway.  If you were a PC or an APC and you did not participate in Extension, you were demoted and put on Spiritual Probation.

Note question #5 — “witness” can be roughly translated as, pestering or persuading your boss, co-workers & customers to become Christians – Christians in the independent fundamental sense (i.e., protestant, non-Catholic.)

The Minutiae of Christian Recruitment

Maybe it’s just me, but I find these Bob Jones University “Extension Worksheets” to be – well – just plain weird.

You all have probably heard that the ways of God are mysterious – well, someone in the BJU Ministerial School Administration came up with a way of recording and documenting the complex and mysterious dealings of the Holy Spirit with fallen Man in an attempt to remove the shroud of mystery from God and…

…determine a BJU Bible student’s grade.

Ignore most of the sheet – it’s just attendance taking, etc.

Look at the highlighted sections – which I have detailed for you.

From the highlighted left portion above.

 Top Left: “No. Dealt With” = Number Dealt With – this means the number of people you counseled about the destiny of their eternal soul.  The object is to get the Holy Spirit to “deal with” them and convict them of their sin.

Top Right: “No. Saved” = Number Saved – the number you actually converted.  Those souls became “born again” or “saved” from eternal damnation in Hell.

Middle Left: “Rededications” – these were professed Christians who had drifted away from the Faith or become “back-slidden” and “rededicated” their lives back to Jesus.

Middle Right: “Other Decisions” – to become missionaries, preachers, evangelists or to attend a good Christian university…like BJU, for example.

Bottom Left: “Services” – number of services held where the Word of God was preached.  This could be anywhere – church, rest home, house, street corner, etc.

Bottom Right: “Tracts” – those little pamphlets you sometimes see in the bathroom, under your wiper, near your tip after a meal, given to you as you walk past, etc. – those are “tracts.”  They usually contain a “Plan of Salvation.”  Follow the steps and, voila, you’re saved.

From the highlighted right portion.

 

This is the “Excuse” section of the worksheet.  Darken the circle completely!  Were you sick?  You had better be checked into the infirmary!  Car trouble?  Did car trouble stop Peter? Or Paul?  Get a ride!  What’s wrong with you!  (This is where the “Office Use Only” section over-rules your so-called “excuse.”)

Those poor guys (girls are not allowed to preach) who received an “F” or an “Incomplete” in Bible had to outline the Sunday Sermons!  Cruel & unusual punishment for sure!

God Encourages Violation of Court Injunction

Or…ACLU v. Santa Rosa School District, Round 2…

As of May 15, 2009, the Northwest Florida branch of the ACLU wants the Santa Rosa School District held in contempt for violating a January 19, 2009 injunction on religious activities at school and school-related events.

This injunction is detailed in previous blogs. You will note that the sole issue is not “prayer in school” – what the faculty and staff were doing was more akin to preaching and proselytizing. The Principal at Pace (Florida) High School, H. Frank Lay and the Superintendent of Schools for Santa Rosa County, Tim Wyrosdick, admitted that such religious activity had occurred and agreed to prohibit and stop all future religious activity in the public schools of Santa Rosa County.

On January 28, 2009, Pace High held a luncheon where Principal Lay asked the Athletic Director, Robert Freeman, to “bless the food for the adults in attendance.” Mr. Freeman did as he was told and gave “thanks” (prayed) before eating.

Principal Lay commented to the Pensacola News Journal, “We did what we normally do in the South before we eat,” he said. “I wasn’t trying to hurt or offend anybody or cause any consternation.”

(I keep wanting to add, “Awww, shucks!” at the end of that sentence, but I won’t.)

The implication is that those Yankees Up Nawwth don’t pray before they eat – and those dad-burn ACLU lawh-yers don’t neether!

Hey, Principal Lay – there are a lot of things you may have done “normally…in the South” – most of which, thank God, have been done away with. No thanks to Southern Tradition, but to those Damn Yankees from up North.

It was revealed in a series of internal memos that Principal Lay was “at the date of this incident (1/28/09) aware of the court injunction and aware that this type of action is not permissible under the injunction.” And yet, Principal Lay proceeded, compelled by Southern Heritage rather than obedience to the law.

The second incident in violation of the U.S. District Court injunction took place at a banquet for “Non-Instructional Employee of the Year” on February 20, 2009.

Michelle Winkler, a clerical assistant at the Santa Rosa School District’s Berryhill Administrative Complex, was asked to give…

“…the thought for the day. Say things about our hard working employees, remembering the theme of ‘Santa Rosa’s Most Wanted.’ Please keep your comments fairly short, 2 or 3 minutes or so. When you conclude, ask everyone to stand for a moment of silence. After 20 – 30 seconds, simply say, ‘Thank you, you may be seated’ and depart the stage.”

But that isn’t what Michelle Winkler did.  Oh no.

You see she had received a prayer from God. That’s right – directly from God Himself.

Michelle Winkler’s first inclination was to withdraw, but she stated, “we are in a battle and there are diverse ways to fight it. So I will accept.”

Again, Michelle Winkler was told, no prayer – no devotion – no invocation. Winkler then asked for “off the record” permission to pray her God-given prayer.

“We can have a ‘thought for the day’ which cannot be religious” she was told – again.

Ms. Winkler’s response, dated January 26, 2009, was – well, strange – and why the school district didn’t pull the plug on this nut is beyond me.

“This is the prayer God gave me – if it cannot be prayed in its entirety, I would prefer someone else be selected to give the prayer. I simply cannot compromise my LORD. Like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, I simply won’t bow down to another god.”

The night of the banquet instead of being brave and praying herself (i.e., Daniel, Hananiah, Mishel, et.al.) she chickens out and asks her husband (not a school board employee) to pray.

Winkler thought she had out-smarted the injunction, but, no – the ACLU filed a motion for the federal court to issue an order for Ms. Winkler to show cause or explain herself.

Time to be brave, Ms. Winkler.

Don’t send your husband.

Compliance to Defiance

On Dec. 15, 2008, the Santa Rosa County School Board, the district’s Superintendent of Schools and the principal of Pace High School (H. Frank Lay) filed an “Admission of Liability” with the U. S. District Court regarding the district-wide constitutional violations detailed in an August 2008 ACLU lawsuit.

It was agreed by all of the named defendants that faculty and staff at Pace High School had misused their positions to promote their own personal religious viewpoints. The district agreed to end the practices and signed a consent decree to settle the lawsuit.

“The [Santa Rosa] School District ultimately did the right thing in admitting and accepting responsibility for its violations of students’ constitutional rights,” said Benjamin Stevenson, principal litigator and staff attorney with the ACLU of Florida’s Northwest Regional office. “We are pleased with [the] decision, and we look forward to working with the defendants and the court to permanently bring the school district in line with the First Amendment.”

So, that’s it, right?

Oh, no, folks –

May 26, 2009, in the auditorium of Pastor Joey Rogers’ Pace Assembly of God church at the “Students’ Rights Rally,” Pace High Principal H. Frank Lay decided to be defiant rather than compliant.

Principal H. Frank Lay

“No way are we going to back down, back off, lay [sic] down or roll over,” Principal Lay said. It may cost him his job, but Principal Lay said he would not sit back and watch students who traditionally speak at commencement ceremonies be denied that right because of the signed Admission of Liability.

“We have to love on (students), and loving on them means standing up for them,” Principal Lay said. “No way am I going to stand by and let two students who have (worked hard) be denied their right to speak.”

Due to the signed admission, only the class valedictorian and salutatorian will be allowed to speak. Because of the consent decree, district officials have decided not to let any student speak at graduation whose election may have been influenced by a teacher or student government. Speakers selected on a neutral basis because of their grade-point average and not their religiosity will be allowed to speak.

There were reportedly around 700 students, current & former faculty and alumni of Pace High School attending this rally. Neither the Superintendent nor any of the School Board Members attended.

You can see how once again Principal Frank Lay, with the help of his Religious Posse, has twisted this ACLU suit into a denial of student’s rights.

You can read the original ACLU lawsuit – it has nothing to do with denying any student the right to speak. The suit addresses the conduct of the Pace High School officials, of which Principal Frank Lay is Top Dog. Mr. Lay, among the other defendants, signed an Admission of Liability – admitting that the on-campus religious activity (i.e., preaching, proselytizing, etc.) that the ACLU filed suit about did occur.

If Principal Frank Lay was so concerned about not backing down, rolling over or lying down, why did he agree to the Admission of Liability?

Could it be that the ACLU lawsuit has uncovered a bunch of Activist Teachers who are willing to sacrifice education on the altar of religion? These religious activists are more interested in the perceived restraint of their individual religious beliefs than with the education of the students in their charge.

True education deals in facts, not mysticism – education is teaching the mind how to think – and part of the thinking process is curiosity, questioning and doubt –

– three things religion stands against.

It’s Not Murder…

“It’s not murder, it’s an act of faith, baby.” *

The number of OB-GYNs who perform abortions dropped by one on Sunday, May 31, 2009 in Wichita, Kansas when Dr. George Tiller was gunned down by Scott Roeder.

Scott Roeder, 51, was described by his ex-wife Lindsey as “very religious in an Old Testament, eye-for-an-eye way.”

Scott Roeder

“The anti-tax stuff came first, and then it grew and grew. He became very anti-abortion,” said Lindsey Roeder, who was married to Scott Roeder for 10 years. “That’s all he cared about was anti-abortion.”

It certainly was no surprise to me that Mr. Roeder was described as “very religious.” Scott Roeder was so religious that he took a step of faith very few religious people take – he was willing to kill for his beliefs.

Oh, but don’t be fooled – in Scott Roeder’s mind and in the minds of religious people with similar beliefs, Dr. Tiller’s death was no murder – it was an act of faith. In conservative churches all over the United States there was “mourning” over the death of Dr. Tiller, but [wink, wink, nudge, nudge] Dr. Tiller has finally given up providing abortions.

I heard the very same sentiment in Pensacola churches in 1993 and again in 1994.

I don’t know Scott Roeder – other than what I quoted above, I know nothing about the man – but – I certainly feel like I do. In the near future as Roeder’s life is dissected for all to see and read about, you will see certain commonalities emerge – certain traits – characteristics of these types of religious men that can justify through Scripture and in their own minds how it is right and just to kill another human being in cold blood.

 

Traits (of Scott Roeder & those like him) to be revealed later…

1) Lack of work or failure in a chosen profession.

2) Poorly or lightly educated – maybe enrolled in “adult classes” at a Bible Institute or a church.

3) Belief in massive conspiracies which will bring about a One World Government.

4) Believes all of us are living in “The Last Days” nearing the Apocalypse.

5) Belief in Biblical Literalism – sees the Bible as a purely literal text.

6) Accepts the Bible as the only Science Textbook we will ever need.

7) Fixation or obsession with one particular portion of Scripture.

8) Strong belief in mystical beings – angels, demons, etc.

9) Believes that the “Spirit Realm” can and does influence human life for good/evil.

10) Orders his life by “ought to obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)

11) Receives new commands or insights directly from reading/praying Scripture.

12) Newly received commands or insights supersede commonly held religious beliefs.

 

In the defense of Michael Griffin, the man who killed Dr. David Gunn outside of a women’s clinic in Pensacola in 1993, Griffin’s defense attorney, Robert Kerrigan, pointed out the enormous influence religious leaders and erroneous religious teachings have in the life of someone who is easily influenced – in Griffin’s case it was a man named John Burt. Who will it be in Scott Roeder’s life? I guarantee you there is some one or some entity.

Keep a close watch as the Scott Roeder trial unfolds and remember you read it here first.

I’m just surprised that Roeder wasn’t from Pensacola…

…maybe he passed through at some time…?

Worth looking into.

 

[*] from godspell, by The Cardigans, on Super Extra Gravity, 2005

Who’s Responsible?

“Who’s responsible?

Signed, affectionately,

A Dissatisfied Customer”

~ Capt. B. F. Pierce

 

The recent murder by anti-abortionist and religious nut-burger, Scott Roeder, has me asking myself, “Who’s responsible?”

Is it Scott Roeder himself? Was it solely Mr. Roeder’s idea that what the world needed was another dead OB-GYN?

If it wasn’t Roeder’s idea, then whose was it? If Scott Roeder was incapable of coming up with this idea on his own, then who or what put the idea in his head? And, essentially, put the loaded gun in Roeder’s hand?

Can it be that we can trace the murder of Dr. George Tiller back to a single person or entity espousing the idea that doctors who perform legal abortions need to be killed?

Other than being killers, Scott Roeder, James Kopp, Paul Hill and Michael Griffin possessed the common idea that OB-GYN doctors who perform legal abortions were murderers – and these murdering doctors needed to pay for their crimes – and the payment should be and was death.

Can we find a common point of origin for the murders of Dr. David Gunn, Dr. John Britton, Dr. Barnett Slepian and Dr. George Tiller?

Yes – we can. That point of origin is religion – or, more accurately, religiosity.

Religion is the lens through which each one of these killers viewed the world. These guys were no moderates – no – they invested so deeply in their religious beliefs that for them allowing these doctors to live would be a sin. The demonstration of their faith (as I said previously, their “act of faith”) was a bullet (or several bullets) and the ending of a human life.

The KJV - The New Idol. From a drawing by Peter Ruckman.

Each of these men have professed belief in the Bible. At least one of them (Hill) was a minister at one point. To some Christians, and I think we can count these men among them, the Bible is not just a respected supplement to their faith, the Bible is elevated to a status that rivals the idolatry of the ancients. The words of the Bible are the exact words of God – literal and unchanged – the exact words given to the original Biblical authors thousands of years ago. Even though those original manuscripts have been forever lost and our current Bible is the result of thousands of years of hand-copied copies of copies, there are no errors and the words are exactly as God meant for them to be.

Also, in order to avoid all of that irritating and confusing Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek (the original languages of the Bible), some Christian fundamentalists have declared the King James Version to be the only real and true Bible. For example, a preacher/teacher in Pensacola, Florida, Peter Ruckman, declared that he, Ruckman, would “set aside” the Original Manuscripts in favor of the King James Version. Complete and utter lunacy!

So when these men were told that the Bible says “abortion is murder”, they believed it as though they heard it straight from God.

One problem, though. The Bible doesn’t say abortion is murder. In fact, the problem is never addressed. No where. There is a reference to premature delivery or miscarriage among the 600-and-some commandments (and you thought there were just 10) in Exodus 21:22, 23 – but – in these verses the death of the premature child requires the “abortionist” to pay a fine. Now, if the mother dies as the result of the miscarriage/premature delivery, then the person who caused her death is treated as a murderer and God commands that person die.

When the Bible does refer to the un-born, it does so in an oblique, poetic and metaphoric fashion. It talks of “being conceived in sin”, “wonderfully made”, “knew you before you were conceived”, etc. – the majority of the verses come from poetic books (Psalms, for example) where, in context, the written poem was not to be taken literally but was painting a word picture of sin being all-pervasive or God’s knowledge and love having no bounds.

For those of you who take the Bible literally, where or when did God deliver all of the un-born children before he flooded the Earth? Destroyed Sodom & Gomorrah? Jericho? Etc.? No where in the Bible are pregnant women and the unborn “given a break.” In fact, just the opposite is true – in the gospels of Matthew (24:19) and Luke (21:23) one of the few “woes” uttered by Jesus is about pregnant women during the days of judgment.

My point is this – these men were given someone’s opinion – not the words of God. That human opinion was then given Divine Authority by saying “the Bible says it” – when clearly, the Bible doesn’t say it at all – anywhere.

So, “who’s responsible?”

Roeder, Kopp, Hill & Griffin, of course – each one of them made an individual choice to prematurely end the life of a physician. But – we need to take a closer look at those who persuaded or instructed these four murderers that killing OB-GYNs was “the Lord’s work.” Shouldn’t these Bible teachers or Bible based organizations bear some of the blame? Shouldn’t these religious entities be held responsible for putting religiosity and emotion ahead of what is actually written in Scripture?

Whether you agree with abortion or not, it should be and still legally is, up to the individuals involved to make this difficult choice.

Just don’t use the Bible to back up your position.

You can’t do it.

Frank, Michelle and The Moon

The Santa Rosa County School District has incurred nearly $200,000 in legal fees so far to defend a prayer-in-schools lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, and the district also could be required to pay more than $250,000 to cover the ACLU’s legal fees.

The [school] district and its insurance company are anteing up the fees in a school year plagued by budget shortfalls, cuts in programs and staff and teacher layoffs.

“It’s not where I would have placed that amount of money, but it was what it was,” [Santa Rosa] School District Superintendent Tim Wyrosdick said.

In January [2009], U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers issued a preliminary injunction. In March, School District officials and [Pace High School Principal Frank] Lay signed a consent order in which the district admitted wrongdoing and promised that school officials would no longer take part in religious activities.

Then in May, [Principal] Lay and district clerk Michelle Winkler were accused of violating the January injunction. Rodgers has scheduled an Aug. 21 hearing for them to explain why they should not be held in contempt.

As the case moves forward, legal bills in the financially strapped School District are expected to grow, though nationally known lawyers who handle religious-rights issues have signed on to represent Lay and Winkler for free in the contempt issue.

Lay and Winkler will get free representation from the Liberty Counsel in their contempt cases.

Based in Orlando [Florida], Liberty Counsel is a nonprofit organization that represents people in cases involving “religious liberty, the sanctity of human life and the traditional family,” according to its Web site.

Liberty Counsel has a close working relationship with Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia., founded by the late Christian conservative the Rev. Jerry Falwell. Liberty Counsel’s founder, Mathew Staver, also is the dean of Liberty University’s law school.

“That’s right in my price point,” [Principal] Lay said of the free representation, which he said he obtained on the advice of a “prominent local citizen” he would not identify.

Lay and Winkler would have been required to pay their own legal expenses in the contempt allegations.  ~  from the Pensacola News-Journal, June 21, 2009, by Kris Wernowsky

 

Because it’s free, or in the case of Principal Lay, “the price is right”, the two violators of the January 2009 court injunction have decided to let Liberty Counsel defend them. Liberty Counsel would not exist if it weren’t for Falwell’s Christian Liberty University – and Liberty University would not exist if it weren’t for Sun Myung Moon.

Who?

Sun Myung Moon is better known as the leader – the “Messiah” – of the Unification Church – his followers are known as “Moonies.”

Back in the mid-1990’s Liberty University had accrued a huge amount of debt and its future as a viable Christian university looked bleak. But thanks to the Rev. Moon and his Moonie derived money, Liberty University received $3.5 million dollars funneled to the university through Rev. Moon’s ”Women’s Federation for World Peace” and the Christian Heritage Foundation headed by Tim & Beverly LaHaye – the writer of the Christian “Left Behind” novels – oh – and now head of Liberty University’s Prophecy School, by the way…

The $3.5 million did not retire all of Liberty University’s debt, but loans below market value and help from Moon controlled organizations (News World Communications) did. So what was Dr. Jerry Falwell’s philosophy about the Moon money?

“The Devil’s had it long enough – quickly cash the check.”

So, now, in 2009, we have Liberty Counsel, an out-growth of Liberty University’s School of Law defending Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and Santa Rosa School District employee Michelle Winkler.

So, Mr. Lay, is it “Southern tradition” to let a Korean pay for your legal defense? And Rev. Moon isn’t even from South Korea – he’s originally from what is now North Korea!

And, Ms. Winkler, do you agree with Rev. Moon when he said that he [Moon] was the “Messiah”, the “Second Coming of Christ” and the “True Father of all Humanity”?

As both of you, Lay and Winkler, bask in the warmth of your free Liberty Counsel representation, remember who is really defending you –

– a very rich, very religious, very crazy and very secret Asian Man.

Official Liberty Counsel ID Cards…

You’ve heard of “card-carrying liberals” — well, this is the Liberty Counsel’s response to that.

They’re hard to read, but the list of “right-wing” positions are:

1. The right to bear arms is guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the Constitution;

2. Killing unborn babies is morally wrong;

3. Lower taxes are better than higher taxes;

4. Local and State solutions are usually more efficient than Federal expansion;

5. Interpreting the Bible literally is not a crime;

6. Veterans deserve honor, not special monitoring by Big Brother.

Since Liberty Counsel is representing Pace High principal Frank Lay and Santa Rosa School District employee Michelle Winkler, Liberty Counsel has already issued cards for Lay and Winkler.

Falling – with Style

“That wasn’t flying! That was falling with style!”

~ Sheriff Woody, Toy Story, 1995

If South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford ever spoke at Bob Jones University, I don’t know about it. It’s no great leap to assume Sanford has spoke at BJU – after all Sanford is a) Christian, b) Republican and c) a “family values” oriented politician. Three necessary ingredients to allow one to speak at the “Fortress of Faith.”

As a student at BJU, I remember being regaled by the unintelligible speeches (to those of us born north of the Mason-Dixon Line) of South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond who was a) Christian, b) Republican, and c) a “family values” oriented politician.

Of course, now we know that these two politicians have something else in common –

– keeping “It” in their pants.

Governor Sanford is probably aware of the fact that, according to statistics, Christian marriages are as likely (more likely, according to some stats) to end in divorce as pagan (“non-Christian”) marriages. Gov. Sanford may take some comfort in the fact that he’s following in the foot-steps of many a Christian man – “be fruitful and multiply” and then go find another hottie to bonk.

So it was just a matter of time before someone came up with the comparison that Governor Sanford is like the Old Testament King of Israel, David.

[For those pagans out there who have never heard the Bible account of David – David was lounging on the roof of his palace one day when he spotted another woman bathing. Seeing this naked or nearly naked woman tuned David on, so he had to have her. And David did – repeatedly. David later admitted his mistake, apologized and asked for forgiveness – but David never resigned as King of Israel. That’s the Reader’s Digest version of the story.]

If you want to read why Christians and Christianity has fallen into the abyss of idiocy and worthlessness, read this article on CBN.com.

Adrian P. Schoonmaker, the writer of the article, repeatedly tells us:

“Yet I am proud of Mark Sanford.”

“Still, I am proud of Mark Sanford.”

“I am proud of the governor…”

“Today I am proud of Governor Mark Sanford…”

“As for me, I remain proud of Mark Sanford…”

Schoonmaker, a Christian (Assembly of God), is proud of Governor Sanford, not for the Governor’s successful marriage, family and career – not for how Governor Sanford could be the next “family values” flag-waver for the GOP – not for how the Governor set aside his duties of the State and spent Father’s Day with his four boys grilling burgers in the back yard – but for how the Governor admitted his failures.

In other words, this Christian man is a great Christian because he fails correctly!

But maybe failure is the true essence of this religion.

Schoonmaker says, “King David whispers to the Ted Haggards [had a homosexual affair] of this world, the Jim Bakkers [had an affair & ripped off many, many gullible people who thought they were giving their money to a “man of God”] of this world, that there is hope for redemption.”

“Redemption” in this case means “moving on as though nothing happened.”

This must be why men like Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, Robert Tilton, Ted Haggard, Oral Roberts and Richard Roberts can repeatedly fool and swindle their gullible flocks – doesn’t matter what they do – there’s no accountability as long as they “fall with style.”

I’m not sure that the Governor Sanford affair is analogous to the Old Testament account of King David’s sin. First of all, just how many wives did David have? Can we safely say “more than one?” And how about those concubines? Not too many state governors have a gaggle of concubines – well, not since Arkansas Governor Clinton and his “Bimbo Eruption.” Another difference is King David had his lover’s husband killed. I don’t think Governor Sanford has killed anyone. King David never gave up his lover, Bathsheba, but had more children with her. One son, Solomon, became Israel’s next king and the world’s wisest man – although Solomon had “seven hundred wives…and three hundred concubines…” (I Kings 11:3) Not sure how that makes Solomon so wise.

So, Mr. Schoonmaker, rather than saying, “it’s okay – David did it”, I find it disturbing that statistics show virtually no difference between pagan and Christian marriages. Governor Sanford is just a high profile example of another professed Christian that claims the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit and the guidance of Christ’s teachings –

– and then lives his life like every other pagan.

Makes one wonder if any-Thing is there at all…

There is virtually no difference between the imaginary and the invisible.

Addendum: More posts on Sanford & religion…here and here…oh, and here.

Atheist Billboards – Biblical?

It’s rather disturbing when atheists start to mimic theists in their attempt to gain attention or converts. Especially disturbing are the so-called “Atheist Billboards.”

Atheist Billboards are popping up all over the place. In some cases these god-less billboards are appearing in the buckle of the “Bible Belt” of the United States – the state of Alabama, for example. The billboards are either ignored, protested or the first shot in a “Billboard War” – after the atheist billboard comes down, an ultra-religious billboard goes up.

My question is:  Who is advising these atheists on what to put on their billboards?

I ask because some of these Atheist Billboards echo Biblical themes.

 

For example:

This is straight out of Scripture. In the Bible’s New Testament, the writers repeatedly warn that the big danger in this life is living as a good and moral person and expecting to be rewarded for it. In other words, you certainly CAN live a good, clean, pure and moral life without God – the Bible agrees with the billboard. Scripture also says many people don’t believe in God – “for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.” [Matthew 7:13] Again, the Bible agrees with the atheists – you are NOT alone.

 

Second example:

Oh – if that could only be so. Religion is the “binding back of the soul.” The Apostle Paul warns the new Christians of the First Century A.D. not to trade one set of shackles for another. Paul tells them you’ve been set free from sin AND from religion – don’t “become bound” to another set of empty rules and senseless repetitive acts. [Galatians 4] The huge problem with 21st Century Christianity is the empty, repetitive, unreasoned dogma that so-called “men of God” are allowed to get away with. The atheists behind the “Imagine No Religion” billboard may want to read the book More Jesus, Less Religion.

 

Number Three:

Again, what is not true about this? Human beings are certainly capable of building a “better world” without prayer. Even Christians can’t deny the fact that our world is a much better place to live (on average) than it was during Jesus’ day. We live longer, common diseases have been eradicated or are treatable, literacy is common instead of a rarity, we can travel and explore with ease – prayer had little or no role in any of these things. You can’t “pray” yourself a better world. I’ve heard many a preacher say, “You have to put feet to your prayers!” Prayer is just empty words unless those words and desires are acted upon.

 

Example Four:

So many religious people accept traditional dogma as fact and make no attempt to see if what they have been told is true. Nothing illustrates this better than the recent popularity of teaching Dispensationalism and the “Rapture” of the Church. Even though there is no evidence for a Rapture in Scripture and Dispensational teaching was recently invented in the 19th Century, both of these theories are taught as fact – as dogma – and many, if not most, Christians lap it up as reality. They never follow the Biblical instruction of Paul the Apostle when he said, “Examine the Scriptures daily to see whether these things are so.” [Acts 17:11]

 

And finally…

Evolution does occur. To what extent is still being hashed out, but Charles Darwin has certainly rattled some religious cages over the years. Literal Creationists have to resort to pretzel logic to explain what we see in geology, in the fossil record, in biology and in the study and exploration of other worlds. [Examples of pretzel logic: The Gap Theory, The Day-Age Theory, The Ideal Age Theory – but the craziest theory I’ve ever heard from a pulpit is that God intentionally buried the dinosaur bones to test our faith.] If left to Literal Creationists, we would still believe that the Earth is the center of the Universe and every other celestial object orbits it – but, thanks to men – men that challenged long held Church tradition, mysticism and dogma, we now know a little more of the Truth. It is to the detriment of Christians everywhere when Christianity as a whole does not pursue Truth with the same drive and passion as men like Darwin did. Instead, Christianity runs from science and embraces mysticism.  Ignorance – the best friend of mystic dogma.

 

Overall, these atheist billboards are pretty weak. None of them say anything new.  None of them really take a stand.

And if I were the chairman of the Atheist Billboard Committee, I’d be checking the ranks of the godless for a Christian mole.

Michael Jackson – Made in America

The Letter to the Editor of the Washington Post written by the aunt (Martha Gillis) of a U. S. soldier (Lt. Brian Bradshaw) killed in Afghanistan on the same day Michael Jackson died criticized the media for its non-stop coverage of Michael Jackson’s death and funeral. Ms. Gillis wrote:

“Mr. Jackson received days of wall-to-wall coverage in the media…Where was the coverage of my nephew or the other soldiers who died that week?”

Lt. Bradshaw’s mother, Mary Bradshaw, said she agreed with Martha Gillis, saying the nonstop coverage of Michael Jackson’s death has become “totally ridiculous” and laughable. “I can watch the news many nights and there’s no mention of what’s going on in Afghanistan or Iraq and there’s boys dying over there.”

I know that the letters and the comments from Lt. Bradshaw’s family probably came out of grief mixed with anger – and who could blame them? My heart would be broken if I was in the same situation. We all as a nation should thank Lt. Bradshaw for his service and sacrifice.

But – to answer the question posed by Aunt Martha Gillis – “Where was the coverage of her nephew’s death?” – there is a simple answer.

It’s the same answer to those who ask why A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez) of the New York Yankees is paid (approximately) $28,000,000 for playing a game, but a New York City school teacher, who in the scheme of things has a much more important job, is paid a pittance by comparison.

No one will pay $50 to $400 a seat to watch a school teacher teach. But people are quite willing to pay to watch A-Rod play a game.

Same goes for Lt. Bradshaw and all of the other soldiers. They’re patriotic, selfless and brave and we thank them, but you’re not going to sell tickets and fill stadiums to watch Lt. Bradshaw and the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division perform maneuvers.

The harsh reality is money and market demand.

That’s the American market-driven capitalist system.

Michael Jackson didn’t start out famous. He was just one of the Jackson siblings. But Michael seemed to posses an extra measure of talent – a talent which he nurtured and perfected. He broke away from the Jackson Five and became a star on his own. This is not easy to do. (How many group-artists have “went solo” only to fail miserably?) Instead of relying on the security of the group dynamic with the Jackson Five, it was solely up to him as an individual to “make it.” If Michael failed, it would be his fault and his alone.

And make it he did. Michael Jackson set his sight on a goal and achieved it – surpassed it – surpassed everyone – and became, not just a star, but one of those rare Superstars that are known on every corner of the planet.

Isn’t this “the American Dream?” Poor kid grows up in the Midwest and becomes world-wide pop-star… Isn’t this what we’re taught to do no matter what our talent?

Like all other human beings who live on this world, Michael Jackson had his problems. Some of the problems brought on by wealth and fame. Some of the problems due to injury and health problems. Again – this is a story that has repeated itself time and time again – fame and fortune are hard to manage – especially when you’re not sure who your friends are or why they’re your friends. Are they after the money? The fame? Michael Jackson could trust no one completely.

Because Michael Jackson exploited the media, the media in return exploited him. It was a symbiotic relationship – one feeding off the other.

So the “wall-to-wall” coverage of Michael’s untimely and needless death should not be a surprise to anyone. He was after all their child.

And he was ours.

Michael Joseph Jackson – made in the USA.

"Off the Wall" 1979

The Colored Christians – “Is Segregation Scriptural?”

Now, I know what you’re going to say –

“Please – not this again! BJU has already apologized for being bigots so, let it be, Ekta!”

I know, I know. They apologized – yadda, yadda –

But that’s not my point here.

My point is – we cannot forget just how wrong some of these so-called Spiritual Giants, Biblical Experts and Men of God were (and are) about their positions. Bob Jones, Sr. is just one example.

Today, turn on any radio or TV and you’ll hear and see Wise Men of God, Biblical Experts spouting off about how they know the Mind of God. They know how to save America and the World. They know what the future holds.

Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. was like that. He was absolutely convinced that “separate, but equal” was straight from the mind of God.

The following paragraphs were taken from a thirty-two (32) page booklet sold in the Bob Jones University Campus Bookstore during the 1960’s till the very early 1970’s. The “Segregation” booklet was removed from the Campus Bookstore when, in 1972-73, the University changed its policy on admitting people of color. (For quite sometime after 1973, the booklet was still made available (upon request) to pastors and churches.)

To support the Biblical basis for Bob Jones University’s stand on Biblical racial segregation, Dr. Bob Jones, Sr., the founder of Bob Jones University, delivered this chapel message in April of 1960. The “Segregation” booklet is a transcript of that sermon:

“Now, we folks at Bob Jones University believe that whatever the Bible says is so; and we believe it says certain fundamental things that all Bible-believing Christians accept; but when the Bible speaks clearly about any subject, that settles it. Men do not always agree, because some are dumb-some people are spiritually dumb; but when the Bible is clear, there is not any reason why everybody should not accept it.” (p. 1) (all page numbers are booklet page numbers)

“Now, notice-this is an important verse- the twenty-sixth verse of the seventeenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, ‘And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth…” But do not stop there, “…and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.’ Now, what does that say? That God Almighty fixed the bounds of their habitations. That is as clear as anything that was ever said.” (p. 6)

“Now, what is the matter? There is an effort today to disturb the established order. Wait a minute. Listen, I am talking straight to you. White folks and colored forks, you listen to me. You cannot run over God’s plan and God’s established order without having trouble. God never meant to have one race. It was not His purpose at all. God has a purpose for each race. God Almighty may have overruled and permitted the slaves to come over to America so that the colored people could be the great missionaries to the Africans. They could have been. The white people in America would have helped pay their way over there. By the hundreds and hundreds they could have gone back to Africa and got the Africans converted after the slavery days were over.” (p. 10)

“I want you folks to listen-you white and you colored folks. Do not let these satanic propagandists fool you. This agitation is not of God. It is of the devil. Do not let people slander God Almighty. God made it plain. God meant for Christian people to treat each other right. … Yes, Paul said, ‘God…hath made of one blood all nations of men…’ All men, to whatever race they may belong, have immortal souls; but all men have mortal bodies, and God fixed the boundaries of the races of the world. Let me repeat that it is no accident that most of the Chinese live in China. It is not an accident that most Japanese live in Japan; and the Africans should have been left in Africa, and the Gospel should have been taken to them as God command His people to do.” (pp. 13 – 14)

“If we would just listen to the Word of God and not try to overthrow God’s established order, we would not have any trouble. God never meant for America to be a melting pot to rub out the lines between the nations. That was not God’s purpose for this nation. When someone goes to overthrowing His established order and goes around preaching pious sermons about it, that makes me sick – for a man to stand up and preach pious sermons in this country and talk about rubbing out the line between the races – I say it makes me sick.

The trouble today is a satanic agitation striking back at God’s established order. That is what is making trouble for us.” (p. 15)

“Now, you colored people listen to me. If you had not been bought over here and if your grandparents in slavery days had not heard that great preaching, you might not even be a Christian, You might be over there in the jungles of Africa today, unsaved. But you are here in America where you have your own schools and your own churches and your own liberties and your own rights, with certain restrictions that God Almighty put about you – restrictions that are in line with the Word of God.” (p. 22)

“A Christian relationship does not mean a marriage relationship. You can be a Christian and have fellowship with people that you would not marry and that God does not want you to marry and that if you should marry you would be marrying outside the will of God. Why can’t you see that? Why can’t good, solid, substantial people who do not have any hatred and do not have any bitterness see that? Let’s approach this thing in a Christian way. Let’s make the battle a Christian battle. Do not let people run over you by coming along and talking about the Universal Brotherhood of man. There is not Universal Fatherhood of God and Universal Brotherhood of man. There is not a word about that in the Bible.” (p. 28)

Dr. Jones closed with prayer:

“Our heavenly Father, bless our country. We thank Thee for our ancestors. We thank Thee for the good, Christian people – white and black. We thank Thee for the ties that have bound these Christian white people and Christian colored people together throughout the years, and we thank Thee that white people who had a little more money helped them build their churches and stood by them and when they got sick, they helped them. No nation has ever prospered or been blessed like the colored people in the South. Help these colored Christians not to get swept away by all the propaganda that is being put out now. Help us to see this thing and to understand God’s established order and to be one in Christ and to understand that God has fixed the boundaries of the nations so we would not have trouble and misunderstanding. Keep us by Thy power and use us for Thy glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.” (p. 32)

At Bob Jones University, Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. (who died in 1968) is still venerated on “Founder’s Day” (October 30) with a banquet and a special service honoring his contribution to Christian Fundamentalism, religious broadcasting  & film making (BJU’s film department, Unusual Films, was the idea of Dr. Bob Jones, Sr.) and higher Christian Education. I seriously doubt if Dr. Jones’ segregationist past is mentioned…

…even though ol’ Dr. Bob, Sr. believed segregation was straight from the Mind and Heart of God – and “when the Bible speaks clearly about any subject, that settles it.”

 

[Any emphasis (italics or bold) is strictly my own and did not appear in the original text. Thanks to former BJU student Harry McCall for not giving me permission to use his blog as a source. (Probably would've been polite to ask.)  We’re all on the same team, right Harry? ~ Ekta]

So, What’s your Wife Wearing?

It’s one thing to regulate the conduct and dress of on-campus students, but did you know that Bob Jones University and other conservative fundamentalist Christian schools regulate the conduct and dress of non-students?

Don’t believe me?

From a Bob Jones University Student Handbook:

My favorite part is, “Any…wife…who does not cooperate fully…will seriously jeopardize…the enrollment of her husband.”

So, BJU guys, keep those women in their place!

Kind of explains this cryptic little note from a Bob Jones University Men’s Dormitory Hall Meeting:

[The scan is a little hard to read. Here's what it says:]

“A number of young men are reaching out and grabbing hold of their girlfriend’s arm. This is not acceptable. Please abide by our social regulations. This means you need to refrain from striking or touching your girlfriend.”

How are you going to keep that future BJU Christian wife in line if you can’t “touch or strike”?

Note the Bob Jones Universtiy Dean of Men used the phrase “refrain from striking…your girlfriend.” Using the word “refrain” instead of “stop” or “never” gives one the impression that occassionally she may need to be slapped around a little.

Especially if she’s wearing shorts – and failing to cooperate.

“Signs” & Bob Jones University

…also a story that was around when I was there was that the song “Signs” was written by a former student who was shipped. The words fit the school but I don’t know if it’s true… ~ from the website, http://www.troyandjessica.com/bob-jones-university/comments.html

While listening to Sirius/XM satellite radio, I came across a replay of Casey Kasem’s “American Top 40” from Saturday, July 10, 1971. That happened to be the day that the song “Signs” by the Five Man Electrical Band debuted. “Signs” would turn out to be the band’s biggest hit – topping the charts in 1971 at #3 and selling over a million and a half copies (on 45 rpm).

What’s strange is the song “Signs” first hit big in the United States in the southern states of Louisiana, Florida, Georgia and – the Carolinas. Those states are in the heart of “the Bible Belt.”

For those of you who don’t know, “Signs”, written by Les Emmerson of the Five Man Electrical Band, is about how signs dictate what we can or cannot do and how people are judged on the basis of how they look. Although the song was not intended to be a comment on religion, many listeners living in the Bible Belt took it that way.

In Greenville, South Carolina home of Bob Jones University, many students during the early 1970’s (an even into the 1980’s) were convinced the song was written about BJU…

And the sign said long haired freaky people need not apply

So I tucked my hair up under my hat and went in to ask him why

He said you look like a fine upstanding young man – I think you’ll do

So I took off my hat I said, imagine that, huh, me working for you

And the sign said anybody caught trespassing would be shot on sight

So I jumped on the fence and yelled at the house, Hey! What gives you the right?

To put up a fence to keep me out or to keep Mother Nature in

If God was here, He’d tell you to your face, man, you’re some kind of sinner

Red indicates 10' - 12' perimeter fence. Green indicates gatehouse entry & exit via 24/7 armed security

 

Now, Hey you, Mister! Can’t you read? You got to have a shirt and tie to get a seat

You can’t even watch, no, you can’t eat! You ain’t supposed to be here

Sign said you got to have a membership card to get inside – huh!

And the sign said everybody welcome, come in, kneel down and pray

But when they passed around the plate at the end of it all

I didn’t have a penny to pay

So I got me a pen and paper and made up my own little sign

I said thank you Lord for thinking about me, I’m alive and doing fine

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign

Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind

Do this – Don’t do that

Can’t you read the sign?

Pensacola Christian College Denies Google Admittance

This may be old news, but it’s new to me.

On Google Maps, a Pensacola Christian College (250 Brent Lane, Pensacola, Florida 32503) Campus Security Guard is shown turning away the Google “Street Level View” camera vehicle.

Even the Rev. Jim Jones let NBC News into Jonestown…

…of course, he later had the news-crew killed…

But my point is, what’s so secretive about the PCC campus that prospective students and the just plain curious can’t look around via the internet?

The Beer Summit at Bob Jones University

It’s always interesting and entertaining when someone – anyone – stumbles upon the truth of what the Bible actually says.

Does the Bible condemn slavery? No. It does not.

Does the Bible condemn socialism or communism? No.

Does the Bible condemn abortion or abortionists? Nope.

Does the Bible condemn bestiality? Yes it does – you sick-o.

Dr. Randy Jaeggli (ya-glee), a professor of the Old Testament at Bob Jones University, has, through BJU Press, published one of those rare books about the Bible that reveals the truth of what is actually written in Scripture. The book is called The Christian and Drinking: A Biblical Perspective on Moderation and Abstinence (BJU Press, 2008). Dr. Jaeggli, being employed at a fundamentalist Christian institution of higher learning, personally recommends that every Christian practice total abstinence from any type of alcohol – but the conclusion arrived at by sticking to Scriptural, historical and cultural corroboration is not abstinence, but a Biblical teaching of moderation.

Hey, the Bible says it, that settles it – right? Cheers!

Hold on.

According to Dr. Stephen Jones, President of Bob Jones University, the teaching of the moderate use of alcohol was not the intention of Dr. Jaeggli’s book. Dr. Jones said via email on Thursday, July 30, 2009:

Taking an inductive approach, Dr. Jaeggli presents Scriptural, medical and cultural evidence that brings the reader to the conclusion that a Christian should totally abstain from the beverage use of alcohol.

 The sensitivity and complexity of the topic of the book, combined with the brevity (72 pp.) and inductive arrangement of it, have caused confusion for some readers. They have concluded from some select portions of the text that Dr. Jaeggli condones a Christian’s moderate use of alcohol, which is the opposite of what the book actually teaches.

It may not be what Jaeggli’s book teaches, but it’s certainly what The Book teaches.

Bob Jones University was conceived out of the fires of the temperance movement of the early 20th Century. Prior to founding Bob Jones College near Panama City, Florida in 1927, the founder, Dr. Bob Jones, Sr., traveled the Midwest and South along with Williams Jennings Bryan and Billy Sunday speaking and promoting the Dry Movement – a movement that eventually led to Prohibition. In 1915, Dr. Jones, Sr. said of Mansfield, Ohio, “I would rather be in Hell than in a city with 40 saloons.”

Now that’s temperance.

(Personally, I’d rather be in a saloon than burning for all of Eternity – but, hey, that’s just me…)

President Stephen Jones echoes his Great-Grandfather’s position. Again the July 30th email:

Let me assure you that the University’s position on alcohol has not changed throughout our history; BJU does not believe the Scripture condones the beverage use of alcohol to any degree by Bible-believing Christians…All of the administration and Bible and Seminary faculty, including Dr. Jaeggli, fully support complete abstinence from alcohol and teach and preach this position.

This is the same University that used Scripture to back up its position on segregation and the forbidding of interracial marriage.

And we all know how that turned out.

Temperance – the total abstinence from alcohol – is not taught in Scripture anywhere. It’s shocking, I know. But the Bible is a shocking book.

Like others before, BJU has taken a position that is “higher” than the Biblical position – a position that is not taught in Scripture, but a position that doesn’t overtly clash with the purpose of Scripture.

Why can’t the University just say that?

Dr. Randy Jaeggli

Unfortunately, Dr. Jaeggli’s book has been pulled from distribution by BJU Press. There are probably a few copies still out there – and if there aren’t – there are enough “Jaeggli Haters” on the web quoting Dr. Jaeggli that if you took the time to assemble all of the quotes you could probably arrive at nearly all 72 pages of Jaeggli’s book.

What’s sad about this whole affair is BJU backed away from a good man and a good book dispensing actual Scriptural truth about a subject that has been distorted and mis-taught for the last 150 years. Instead the University gave in to the ultra-fundamentalists (Sword of the Lord, Ambassador College, Pensacola Christian College, the KJV Only Crowd, to name a few) and lost the chance to take the lead on teaching common sense in reading and understanding ancient Scripture and how it relates to our time.

Frustrating, indeed.

Almost drives one to drink.

BJU Beer Summit: Another Round!

“O ye who believe! Strong drinks, the casting of lots, dedication to idols and divining of arrows are only an infamy of Satan’s handiwork. Cast them aside in order that ye may succeed. Satan seeketh only to cast among you enmity and hatred by means of strong drinks…and turn you from remembrance of God and from His worship. So will ye not then abstain?”

Reads like the latest issue of Sword of the Lord, doesn’t it?

Or maybe a sermon by Dr. Bob Jones, Sr.?

Certainly this Holy Scripture condemns “strong drink” (alcohol) and leaves no doubt in anyone’s mind that Dr. Randy Jaeggli is wrong, wrong, wrong! Amen?!

One problem – the above passage is from the Holy Qur’an (5:90-93)

Whuut?

After reading several Islamic websites, I noticed that the Islamic argument for total abstinence from alcohol is exactly the same as the arguments put forward by the Sword of the Lord, The Biblical Evangelist and other ultra-conservative Biblical literalists. From one Muslim website:

“Creating a society free from alcohol and other intoxicants is one of the miracles of Islam. Islam prohibits any quantity of alcohol no matter how small it is, because small quantities may well lead to large quantities.”

The Imam of Fundamentalism, Shelton Smith

Give Shelton Smith or Robert Sumner or Marc Monte an eraser and let them scratch out “Islam” and write in the words “Fundamentalist Christianity” and – bingo! They all have a pithy plug for a new book condemning the consumption of alcohol and how to be more holy than those unsaved liberals and deceived Catholics.

Back in March, 1986, it was Bob Jones University Bible professor Dr. Charles W. Smith who, in response to my question about alcohol in the Bible, said: “Wine means wine and drunk means drunk!”

And that certainly is the case:

1) Using His creative power Jesus produced alcoholic wine – so good the wedding guests took note. (I always wondered – after the wedding was over, did anyone try bottling the left-over wine and drinking it later? “Hey, Moishe, I’ve got a bottle of ‘Les noces de Cana, 27’. Want a glass?”)

2) Jesus referred to Himself as “the true vine” and the Father “the vinedresser.” The Church is “the fruit” – and the Spirit? You guessed it – about 12% to 13%.

3) Jesus uses illustrations such as putting new wine into old “wineskins” – you don’t do it! Why? Because the fermentation will break the wineskin and you’ll lose your wine. Put new wine into strong new wineskins.

4) Jesus knew the value of a good vintage. He said, “…no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.’” (Luke 5:39)

5) Jesus was accused of being a drunkard by – guess who – the religious leaders of His day, the Pharisees. “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking: and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a wine-drinker (drunkard)…’” (Luke 7:34)

6) And my favorite, Paul, who in Ephesians uses being “drunk with wine” to illustrate being “filled with the Spirit.”

There are so many more examples throughout Scripture – and if you still could get Dr. Jaeggli’s book, you could read them and study them for yourself. But thanks to the cowards at BJU and the modern-day Pharisees at the Sword of the Lord, et al, that is no longer possible.

The Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 8 describes those with a “weak” conscience as having a lack of Biblical knowledge – having no real data as to the Scripture’s true position on a particular subject. Paul defines weak as those who won’t do something for religious reasons even though Scripture does not forbid it.

Bottom line is:

So-called “strong convictions”, not Biblically based, are wrong convictions.

The Crucifixion of Principal H. Frank Lay

A quick time line of events for those of you just joining us:

August 2008 – ACLU files suit on behalf of two Pace High School students. The suit alleged that school officials (Santa Rosa County, Florida) violated the U.S. Constitution by regularly promoting their personal religious beliefs and leading prayers at school events.

December 2008 – Santa Rosa School District officials admitted the claims, and school officials agreed to stop foisting their beliefs on students.

January 2009 – U. S. District Judge Casey Rodgers issued a temporary injunction laying out the ground rules for school officials’ conduct. (On May 8, 2009 that ruling was made permanent.)

January 28, 2009 – Pace High School Principal H. Frank Lay asked school district employee and athletic director, Robert Freeman, to pray or “bless the food” at a school luncheon (at Pace High) commemorating the completion of the high school’s new fieldhouse. Lay and Freeman receive light reprimands from their boss, Superintendent Tim Wyrosdick.

February 20, 2009 – At the school-related “Employee of the Year” Banquet, school district employee Michelle Winkler was asked to offer a “thought for the day.” Instead, she turned to her husband, who is not a School District employee, and asked him to offer the prayer that Mrs. Winkler said she received directly “from God.”

May 2009 – ACLU files to have the Santa Rosa School District held in contempt for violating the January 19, 2009 injunction on religious activities at school and school-related events.

May 2009 – Santa Rosa School District Superintendent Tim Wyrosdick decided, on the advice of the district’s lawyers that the Student Government Association president and senior class president could not speak at graduation ceremonies.

May 26, 2009 – At a Protest Rally organized by Pace Assembly of God pastor Joey Rogers, Principal Frank Lay had a literal platform to express his outrage – calling the ACLU, “the Anti-Christian League for the Underworld.”

July 2009 – U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers instigated criminal charges against Lay and Freeman. Judge Rodgers filed new documents, still sealed, which order Lay and Freeman to appear on criminal charges on Sept. 17.

“The conduct of Lay, if true, was even more concerning to the court than that of Winkler, given his status as a party to the lawsuit and principal of the high school involved in the lawsuit, as well as the fact he allegedly caused an employee under his command to violate the injunction.” ~ U. S. District Judge Casey Rodgers

Now – the Passion of H. Frank Lay…

Separated at birth?

His Birth – He was born to John and Margaret Lay in modest surroundings.  “My parents gave us roots and turned us loose,” Lay said. “They didn’t expect us to hang around.”

His Ministry – Lay is a deacon and Bible teacher at Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola. He got his start in the Santa Rosa County Schools as an athletic director and coach, eventually becoming principal of “the Baptist Academy” – a.k.a., Pace High School and its 1800+ students.

His Office – “Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee looks over the office, a large portrait hanging on the wall.

‘”I realize Gen. Lee didn’t get on the right side in the war, but with his character and background, I don’t think you would find a better gentleman,”’ Lay said.

A credenza holds a collection of small items with a patriotic theme. Many of the knick-knacks are red, white and blue. And in the middle is a Christian cross.” ~ from the Pensacola News Journal, August 9, 2009

His Defenders – Lay’s pastor, the Rev. Ted Traylor of Olive Baptist Church complained that:

“…the nation is vastly different now than when I was a child. Illegal immigrants, secularization of public schools, and Muslims living here in numbers which make them a religious percentage of the population…I often hear people say, “This nation is in trouble.” And I must agree.

I am telling you this is not America… But, this is the America we live in today. Socialism is next. Then comes communism.” ~ from Pastor Ted Traylor’s blog, August 4, 2009.

Pastor Joey Rogers of Pace Assembly of God in Pace, Florida – the pastor that gave Principal Lay the videotaped forum (“STUDENTS RIGHTS RALLY & PRESS CONFERENCE”) that most likely resulted in the criminal contempt charges. (We don’t know yet; the records were sealed by the judge.) Pace Assembly of God is credited for being the origins of the 1995 Father’s Day “manifestation of the Holy Spirit” at the Brownsville Assembly of God in nearby Pensacola (later proven to be a money-making scam). Pastor Joseph “Joey” Rogers regularly preaches about “the Anti-Christ”, the “Rapture” and the “End of the World” when all shall stand and be judged before God. This religious teaching seeped into the curriculum at Pace High where students were told of the imminent Return of Jesus and the Final Judgment of God.

His Defense Fund – Like Bill & Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, Frank Lay has his own Legal Defense Fund. So far they’ve raised nearly $11,000 – enough to pay the retainer for Principal Lay’s (and Freeman’s) Defense Attorney, Barry Beroset, a veteran Pensacola criminal defense attorney.

Sandy Wyatt, a co-owner of the Farmers’ Opry, will host a Sept. 10 fundraiser at his Chumuckla, Florida (home of the yearly Red-Neck Parade & Christmas Festival – I am not kidding) restaurant and country music venue.

His “Death” – may occur on September 17, 2009 when Lay and Freeman face Judge Rodgers.

His “Resurrection” – to be honest, Principal Lay can’t loose in this situation. If he is fined, someone will pay it for him – if he looses his job, someone will hire him – if he goes to jail (unlikely) he will become a “martyr” and a symbol of all that is wrong with 21st Century American Society. Former Principal Lay will make a good living speaking in churches all across the country against the Evil ACLU…

“If you strike me down, I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”

I think the ACLU and Judge Rodgers have overplayed their hand.

Lay’s “Greatest Disappointment”

The recent ACLU lawsuit against the Santa Rosa County School District – more specifically, Pace High School – and in particular, Pace High Principal H. Frank Lay, have brought up the supposed fact that we need religion to be taught in public schools because religion is intrinsically valuable and religion gives students a moral compass to guide them the rest of their lives.

This “fact” is assumed to be true by religionists. Principal Frank Lay, et. al., say that we need more religion in public education – less science, more religion – less history, more His Story – less literature, more Bible study. But, again, according to Principal Lay, the hands of the public schools are tied by the “the Anti-Christian League for the Underworld.”

So, following this line of thinking advanced by the pro-religion crowd, exposure to and the teaching of religion during a child’s formative years is as important as reading, writing and arithmetic.

This is just not borne out in the recent personal family life of Frank Lay.

A friend of mine reminded me that Frank Lay and his wife Nancy, for seven years, had been the foster parents of Derek King, the boy who, along with his younger brother Alex, beat their father to death with an aluminum baseball bat and, to hide the evidence of the murder, set the house on fire in November, 2001.

Derek King arrived at the Lay’s house when he was only six years old. According to the book, A Perversion of Justice by Kathryn Medico & Mollye Barrows, the Lay family was stable, sociable and heavily involved in religious activities associated with Olive Baptist Church in nearby Pensacola.

Derek was too young to attend high school – he was 13 when he left his foster parents to live with his dad, Terry – but Pace High School gets a mention anyway…

Apparently there was no money provided for professional counseling for Derek. Instead, the Lays contacted a “Christian Counselor” (p. 31) through Olive Baptist Church. Christian Counselors are not psychologists, nor are they psychiatrists – they normally do not agree with or practice modern psychology. They are Christians first; psychologist second. The “counseling” is based in Scripture – and through Scripture true psychological healing will come about. Bringing out the “fruits of the Spirit” should end Derek’s behavioral problems.

But the problems didn’t end.

Later a real psychologist was consulted…

“They sought more counseling for their foster son. A psychologist told them that Derek’s problems probably weren’t as serious as they thought. He was just making bad decisions and needed to be redirected. Adjusting his [Derek’s] medication and regular counseling would go a long way to improve his behavior, the counselor advised. But with the private foster arrangement providing no money, additional therapy was prohibitively expensive.” ~ A Perversion…, pp. 33, 34

…and Derek faired no better. Derek’s primary source for guidance and counseling continued to be: the foster family of Frank & Nancy Lay, Olive Baptist Church and Scripture.

But even in that case, Derek was receiving mixed messages.

According to the Medico-Barrows book, it was Frank Lay who advised Derek that praying for a reunion with his [Derek’s] biological family and his brothers was “hopeless.” [p. 26]

The Lays wanted it known that Derek was not a “biological son.” It was Nancy Lay, Frank’s wife, who jokingly responded to an Olive Baptist Church Sunday School teacher that she [Nancy] “was getting a T-shirt that said, ‘Derek is not my biological son!’” [p. 28]

In one case, Derek was picked on in school, bullied and called names. Mrs. Lay advised Derek to “fight back and defend yourself.” [p. 33] As it turned out, Derek took that advice to heart in spite of his religious instruction to “turn the other cheek.”

At the end of September 2001, Derek King left the Lay household with all of his possessions – including the four Bibles he owned. [p. 40]

Derek King

Obviously the Lays should be commended for taking in a young boy with very few loving, caring family members. What I have a problem with is drawing a correlation between religious practices/instruction being required for morals and good behavior. Derek King spent seven years – seven years! – in the Lay house. He grew up in the church. He went to Sunday School. He attended youth group activities…

Yet, once teenaged Derek was released from all of that religious up-bringing, he decides that the best way, the only way, to improve his (and his brother Alex’s) life is to murder his biological father.

And Pensacola is treated to another sensational murder that has Dateline, 20/20 and 60 Minutes scrambling for interviews with the accused.

God: (1) – The Evil ACLU: (0)

“Talk to God and listen to the casual reply.” ~ John Denver, Rocky Mountain High, 1973

“John, I want you to become a Golf Pro.” ~ Dr. Johnny Fever, “God Talks to Johnny”, Episode 32, WKRP in Cincinnati, 1980

One week ago today, which was Friday, August 22, 2009, U.S. District Court Judge Casey Rodgers dismissed the civil charge of contempt against Santa Rosa School Board employee Michelle Winkler. Judge Rodgers said Winkler, a lower level employee for the school district, didn’t know enough about the court order to warrant a guilty finding.

Good ol' Richard Winkler

Winkler, as you may recall, asked her husband Richard Winkler to pray at a Non-Instructional Employee of the Year banquet held on February 20, 2009. Judge Rodgers was shown a video recording of Michelle Winkler and her husband Richard arm-in-arm, walking to the platform to offer the banquet’s “Thought for the Day”. Michelle Winkler told the audience she wasn’t allowed to offer a prayer at the banquet because of the “Jane and John Does of the world”, so Ms. Winkler had her husband Richard recite the prayer before the audience. Then Michelle Winkler followed up with her “Thought for the Day”:

“My thought is to stand up for what you believe in,” she said at the podium.

Evil ACLU attorney Benjamin Stevenson

Defiant on camera and before her superiors, Michelle Winkler’s defiance melted before the U.S. District Court, Judge Rodgers and the ACLU attorneys. She told the judge that she would never knowingly violate a court order even if she (Winkler) disagreed with it.

Apparently Judge Rodgers bought this attitude of compliance and contrition, but the judge did leave Winkler, and all those who may follow her, with an unsympathetic warning about school-related or school-mandated prayer:

“It has been settled law in this country for 50 years,” she said. “A lot of what me and my colleagues deal with as judges is gray area. … This is not.”

In the Pensacola News Journal, opinion columnist Mark O’Brien had this take on Michelle Winkler:

The School District tried to do the right thing. It informed employees of the policy and even gave the name and phone number of its attorney to call if they had questions. But Winkler, a system employee for two years, chose a single sentence that said prayer would be OK at events like Christmas gatherings, and she decided the dinner fell into that category.

In any event, Winkler was guilty of bad manners.

The dinner was held to honor the drivers who carry children to school, the cooks who prepare their food, the clerks who keep schools running.

But Winkler hijacked that dinner for herself and her own politics. Caught up in her own limited understanding of the case, she made a mini-spectacle and put the spotlight on herself, not on the employees the event was honoring.

Instead of the event being about them, it was all about Michelle Winkler.

Maybe she should change her name to “ME-chelle”?

But the normally caustic Mark O’Brien left out the true reason why Michelle Winkler was let off the hook…

…God talks to Michelle Winkler. And she writes down what He says.

Yes – that’s right – she writes down what God said.

You see, Michelle Winkler didn’t just have long suffering husband Richard pray any prayer – no; it was The Prayer Michelle “received from God” – this according to her own words to her supervisor, Jud Crane, on January 23, 2009.

There are Two Rules that govern communication with the Almighty:

1) Do not talk back.

2) Do not tell anyone else.

If Michelle Winkler is guilty of anything, it’s not civil contempt or even bad manners – she’s guilty of breaking rule number 2 of the Two Rules…

…oh, and being a complete and utter loon.

1969 – Woodstock & Bob Jones University

“And then along comes Woodstock, this miraculously peaceful gathering of half a million people. I think it just took everybody by surprise. It was this moment of hope and light in the midst of this very dark period.” ~ Michael Lang, who produced the 1969 Woodstock festival

 

Great King of kings, this campus all is Thine,

Make by Thy presence of this place a shrine;

Thee may we meet within the classroom walls,

Go forth to serve Thee from these hallowed halls.

~ Bob Jones University Hymn, stanza no. 5, verse by Bob Jones, Jr.

 

In 1969, the word “Woodstock” meant nothing to me. Even now, as I have watched the fawning coverage of the festival’s 40th Anniversary and seen promotional trailers for the new movie Taking Woodstock, I still wonder what all of the hype is about.

Woodstock and its organizers are praised for creating a “nation” – a nation based on peace, love and music. A nation separate from the fires of war and discontent that surrounded the cow pastures of rural Sullivan County in the state of New York. This impromptu nation existed for three days amidst the art, music, mud, manure, drugs and sex surrounded by abandoned cars and New York State Troopers. Woodstock could be likened to a fortress – a “Fortress of Filth.”

At the same time, in the year 1969, over a thousand miles south, in the state of South Carolina, there was another place that referred to itself as a fortress – a “Fortress of Faith.” Bob Jones University sat (at that time) on the outskirts of Greenville – not exactly rural, but BJU was the largest complex before leaving the city limits. Like the attendees of Woodstock, the faculty and students of BJU formed a separate nation – a nation based on fine art, classical music, skewed societal/political views, religious intoxication and stifled sexual urges. A combination of black iron, steel and high barbed-wire fences and gates surrounded the campus, giving rise to the question; is the fence containing or excluding? There were no South Carolina State Troopers, but armed BJU Security Guards (based out of the “Welcome Center”) patrolled the campus.

Remember, we are talking 1969 here.

The year 1969 followed the tumultuous year of 1968 – the year of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam – the year Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed – the year Robert F. Kennedy was killed – there were riots, protests, beatings nationwide and, in particular, Chicago, at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Cities and college campuses were in turmoil. Protest and rebellion were in the air, in the art, in the music and in the youth.

Rodeheaver Auditorium 1969 - from a postcard sold in the campus bookstore

At Bob Jones University in 1968, the founder, Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. died and was laid to rest in front of Rodeheaver Auditorium. His son, Shakespearean actor, art connoisseur and Biblical Fundamentalist, Bob Jones, Jr., assumed the mantle of leadership. A firm believer in discipline and separation, Dr. Bob, Jr. was not going to let the ungodly rebellion of worldly youth penetrate his (and in his mind, God’s) campus.

In 1969, college campuses were in turmoil. In the spring, Harvard University’s Administration Building was seized by nearly 300 students – a majority were members of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). As a result of the SDS takeover, 45 will be injured and 184 arrested. Later in the summer, the “Weathermen” faction seizes control of the SDS National Office after the collapse of the SDS national convention. Across the country State National Guards are called in to disperse protesting students – using various types and degrees of force.

The Administration at BJU would have none of that. Any student who showed even a remote tendency to rebel was expelled. Campus patrols were taken seriously – within the campus and without. Walter Cronkite and the CBS Evening News on May 27, 1969 report on what is called a “Peaceful Campus in South Carolina.” In the news segment, Dr. Bob Jones, Jr. comments that he won’t permit campus unrest. Students at BJU are not in search of truth; they’ve found it.

At Woodstock, the “truth” would be the pursuit of pure “freedom” – freedom of the mind, the body and society. Woodstock veterans pride themselves in having such a large inclusive gathering and only one death (a drug overdose).

But how inclusive was this festival?

In all of the photos, films and material from Woodstock, I see no African-Americans. Am I missing something here?

Okay, they were on stage – as musicians – right? Kind of like old Vaudeville with the black minstrel acts – minstrels with guitars performing for the mass of Spoiled Caucasian College Students.

But to watch the crowd scenes in The Woodstock Experience, speckled with only a few black faces—none of which are shown in the groovy-looking segment of nude, carefree hippies, skinny-dipping in a lake and talking about freedom—brings about that recurring, odd, “hard to put your finger on it” experiences that many black Americans feel. It happens whenever there’s a so-called liberal, mostly white celebration, in which blacks are pressed against an invisible wall that can’t be penetrated… ~ John Murph, The Root, 8/14/2009

When we’re talking about that [Woodstock] generation, we’re really only talking about the white, middle-class part of the generation. ~ Joel Makower, author of Woodstock: The Oral History, a compilation of interviews with 75 organizers, musicians and participants of the 1969 Woodstock festival.

The truth is Woodstock contributed almost nothing to “the American Black Experience” – save a few acts – Havens, Hendrix and Sly.

Same could be said for Bob Jones University. Back in 1969, BJU still maintained its 501 (c)(3) tax exemption status even with the policy toward African-Americans as follows:

The sponsors of the University genuinely believe that the Bible forbids interracial dating and marriage. To effectuate these views, Negroes were completely excluded [from being enrolled as students].

The Scriptural interpretation used to back up this policy was:

Race is determined by descendance from one of Noah’s three sons – Ham, Shem, and Japheth. Based on this interpretation, Orientals and Negroes are Hamitic – Hebrews are Shemitic – Caucasians are Japhethitic. Cultural or biological mixing of the races is regarded as a violation of God’s command.

This policy was spelled out by Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. in the BJU booklet, Is Segregation Scriptural? (1960), and by his repeated statement, “God is the author of segregation.” Dr. Bob Jones, Jr. refused President Johnson’s declaration that flags be lowered to half-staff following the assassination of MLK in April, 1968.

Attendees of Woodstock are now approaching or are in their 60’s – many are retirees from good careers, devoted spouses, loving parents and, some, grandparents. For example, the quilt-covered couple featured on the album cover of the Woodstock soundtrack, Bobbi Kelly and Nick Ercoline, have been married for 38 years and have two adult children.

The Ercolines aren’t the only ones – most of the “Love Generation” matured and joined the Society that they said couldn’t be trusted. They eschew drugs and casual sex. Good citizens at work and play…

…much like their counterparts at Bob Jones University…

But we’ve left out the music –

Sly 1969

As of August, 1969, rock and roll had always been the medium of rebellion – whether it was sexual or societal revolution – the music was the means of pure unrest. Woodstock provided an opportunity to see some of the biggest rock and roll acts of the day. There would be those in attendance that a live stage performance would leave an indelible mark on their brains and in their hearts.

Scripture equates rebellion with the sin of witchcraft; therefore, the administration at Bob Jones University hated popular music in any form – jazz, country, “easy listening”, and, of course, rock and roll. To fill the secular musical void, students were allowed to listen to classical music and opera – the rebellious music of another century. Stage performances were plays by Shakespeare and Marlowe; live performances by professional symphony orchestras; operas performed with magnificent sets and professional vocalists flown in from The Met. Some students would never see another drama or opera performed live – but for a brief moment in their lives at BJU, they were presented Fine Art.

That music – those lines – would affect some and change them forever…

…much like their 1969 equivalents at Woodstock.

Who knew that Woodstock and Bob Jones University had so much in common.

Government Run Religion

“This is a spiritual battle we’re in for the very cause of freedom in this nation.” ~ Rev. Joey Rogers, Pastor of Pace Assembly of God, Pace, Florida, Sep. 10, 2009

Rev. Joey Rogers speaks in a known tongue at the Frank Lay Fundraiser.

A “Spiritual Battle” – no longer is this an argument between men, judges, courts and laws – no longer is it a debate between those who choose to attend a public school and, at the same time, wish to abstain from religion and those who want to use the public school system to promote their particular brand of religiosity –

– no –

– the battle is now “spiritual” – or, for you Pagans out there, a battle that is occurring outside of our known reality.

It’s appropriate that this blog is being written on the morning of September 11, 2009 – the 8th anniversary of a dramatic demonstration of another “Spiritual Battle” – or, should I say, “Holy War”? The prime motivator for 9/11/01 was not politics, or oil, or money, or power – it was religion. These men that killed so many Americans were moved to do so by being told they were in a Spiritual Battle against the Great Satan.

There are numerous examples in the Muslim world where religion and government have merged into one – with disastrous results for those living under a Religious Theocracy and those outside of the Theocratic realm opposing it. Under government run religion the first thing to go is freedom. Look at Iran’s last “election” as a recent example.

Under government run religion, school children are preached at by their “teachers” (who often are clerics or religious ministers), advised to pray and recruited or proselytized for service in the “Holy War” – equipping them for a “Spiritual War.”

Sounds familiar.

Thankfully, the founders of the United States of America valued, above all else, freedom. The United States was created not to extend the reach of the Church of England (the official government run religion of England) but to break with it and have the right to not participate in religious activities. The right to practice religion, or no religion at all, is among the most fundamental of the freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. And the government of the United States “shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”

In other words, the Founders were careful not to establish government run religion. In all of the founding documents upon which our laws are based, religion is not promoted; rather it is hampered and restrained so as not to have too much power. But, at the same time, personal religious beliefs are not restrained…

“In fact, teachers and staff at Pace High School preach about “judgment day with the Lord” and offer Bible readings and biblical interpretations during student meetings. That kind of stuff is constitutionally protected—that’s, right, by the First Amendment—at private schools, in religious communities and, of course, at home, but that’s where it ends. Any government – or publicly funded school should never endorse, promote or espouse any religion.”  [Suzanne Ito, August 27th, 2008, ACLU Blog, “Free Speech, Religion & Belief”]

This battle for Government Run Religion is being fought by (for the most part) people who oppose having their physical bodies managed by Government Run Health Care. These are the same people who scream long and hard for freedom to choose and manage their own health care and, at the same time, scream long and hard when their particular brand of religion is not taught by the government run public school system. These are the same people that wet themselves over proposed “Death Panels”, yet promote and preach their own End-Time Death Panel where unbelievers will spend an eternity burning in Hell.

Why can’t these “freedom lovers” extend the same right of choice to those individuals who do not want anything to do with their religion? With any religion?!

Hypocrites all – they are as Dostoyevsky said, “weak rebels” who are dedicated not to freedom, but to the enslavement of all people to “the Miracle, the Mystery and Authority.”

Government Run Religion?

No – thanks.

Lay & Freeman’s Legal Defense Fundraiser…

Principal H. Frank Lay and Robert Freeman were absent from their Legal Defense Fundraiser on Thursday, September 10th in Chumuckla, Florida at the Farmer’s Opry & Campground.

That’s right – it’s not just an Opry – it’s a Campground, too.

In attendance were more than 500 people “assembled in the rain-dampened lawn of the Farmers’ Opry in rural Chumuckla. They feasted on hamburgers and boiled peanuts. They listened to bluegrass and gospel music. They bowed their heads. They prayed.  They said ‘Amen.’” [Pensacola News Journal, 09/11/09]

Admission to the event was $10 a head. T-shirts in support of Lay & Freeman were for sale at the event with all of the incoming loot going toward the Frank Lay & Robert Freeman Defense Fund.

So, 500 people at $10 a head – would be – hmm – hold on – I’m not that good at cipherin’…

The absent Frank Lay and Robert Freeman did not speak, of course, but in their stead several local ministers spoke, including Rev. Joey Rogers of the Charismatic/Pentecostal, Perry Stone loving, Tongue-Speaking Pace Assembly of God and Dr. Ted Traylor of the huge Southern Baptist Convention Church, Olive Baptist Church where every Sunday, Olive’s African-American “Minister of Music” struggles to get all of those White Southern Baptists to clap their hands and “testify.”

Pastor Traylor, Frank Lay's pastor

The local ministers were able to speak with no fear of court-ordered retaliation – none of the ministers are employed by the Santa Rosa School District – they are private citizens exercising their First Amendment right; the freedom of speech. These ministers, Rogers, Traylor, Wiggins, Cotten, Godfrey, etc., can encourage civil disobedience all they want – they are protected. But for the rest of us, not employed by a tax-exempt church, there are consequences for our actions, both overt and covert.

Principal Lay & Robert Freeman, however, are employed by the government/public school system and are bound by its rules of conduct, contracts with employees and agreements with the U.S. District Court – which is what got these two in trouble in the first place. It wasn’t “a prayer” – it was an act of overt defiance and disobedience toward Lay & Freeman’s employer and a violation of a U. S. District Court’s order. This isn’t about “school prayer” – that was settled in 1960 – this is about the misbehavior of an employee and his subordinate followed by more insubordination while representing the highest position at Pace High School, a publicly funded government school.

It would be legal suicide for Lay and/or Freeman to attend the event in Chumuckla – and that’s why they weren’t there.

Apparently Lay & Freeman are listening to their attorney – or they’re cowards.

Speaking of “keeping quiet”, there has been no open support for either Lay or Freeman from the Santa Rosa School Board. Of course this doesn’t mean that the school board doesn’t support Lay & Freeman, it just means that, unlike Frank Lay, school board members are wise enough to keep their mouths shut.

Principal Frank Lay’s most vocal supporter is a man named Robert Smith, an independent insurance agent from Milton, Florida. Smith is the brains behind the “Lay Legal Defense Fund” and a long time friend of Lay. Back in 2005, Smith headed up “Citizens Against Legalizing Liquor” – this was a group that fought hard to keep Santa Rosa County “dry” – meaning no hard liquor or wine could be sold or served in the county. Smith was allied with every conservative church in Santa Rosa County, raised support to fight becoming “wet”, but ultimately lost in September 2005.

But Robert Smith does have a connection to the Santa Rosa School Board – it’s a tenuous one, but it’s there. From the Santa Rosa School Board minutes:

“Motion by Mrs. Coleman, second by Mr. Gray, approving the appointment of Robert Smith as the board’s business owner representative on the Value Adjustment Board. Motion carried unanimously. DONE AND ORDERED IN LEGAL SESSION by the School Board of Santa Rosa County this 14th day of August, 2008 A. D.

The board also needs to appoint a citizen and business owner of Santa Rosa County to serve on the County Value Adjustment Board. The board agreed to ask if Mr. Robert Smith was willing, they would like him to continue to serve as the second board representative on the County Value Adjustment Board. DONE AND ORDERED IN LEGAL SESSION by the School Board of Santa Rosa County this 25th day of June, 2009 A. D.”

[By way of explanation – Any discrepancy found by the owner on their Santa Rosa County Appraised Value of property is welcome to be clarified at the Santa Rosa Property Appraisal office. If yet, one is not satisfied with the Santa Rosa Property Appraisal clarifications then one can approach the County Value Adjustment Board of which Robert Smith is a member.]

I would think that the Santa Rosa School Board would cut ties with Smith who obviously disagrees with the School Board’s agreement and “admission of liability” with the ACLU and the U. S. District Court. Depending on the ultimate outcome of this case, Robert Smith could end up costing the Santa Rosa School District some money – maybe lots of monies…

Meanwhile, when not selling overpriced homeowner’s insurance, Smith is planning his next gathering. From the Smith Insurance website & legal defense fund September 2, 2009 blog:

“We have been in discussions with the City of Pensacola in regards to assembling in downtown Sept 17 for the trial [of Lay & Freeman]. The police department and the city managers office has [sic] told us we do not need any permits. They said we have the Constitutional right of assembly. They will require that no traffic be impeded and all streets remain clear. We can gather across the street from the federal courthouse and on the sidewalks.

The U S Marshall’s office informs us that no one will be allowed to stand on the courthouse steps or inside the courthouse. Please encourage anyone and everyone you know to come to downtown Pensacola to show support for Frank and Robert!! It would be wonderful to have several thousand to show up. If Michelle Winkler’s trial is any indication, this could be an all day event. People attending may want to think about bringing folding chairs, cold drinks and something to eat.

For those of you that may not be aware, parking in downtown Pensacola is somewhat limited. You will need to bring some quarters as the parking meters only use quarters.”

Oh, and don’t forget your T-shirts, Bibles, banjos and boiled peanuts.

Ode to Ivan

M*A*S*H, Season 1, “The Army-Navy Game”, Feb. 25, 1973

A change of subject – I can’t let this anniversary go by…

As I write this at 10:20 PM, September 15, 2009, five years ago at this time, my family and I were about to lose our electricity; when the power did go off at 10:30 PM, September 15, 2004, it would not be restored for two weeks.

After the lights went out, we spent a few minutes lighting candles and lamps. Various flashlights were passed out, making sure that my two kids (14 and 11) each had one of their own. We started out in the center of the living room, sitting as we normally would on the couches and chairs, but eventually the steady wind of the approaching hurricane called “Ivan” grew to a thundering roar, driving all of us into the hallway – supposedly the strongest part of the house.

For six long, dark hours, the steady roar of Ivan shook our single-story brick home. Sitting on the carpeted hallway floor, you could feel the concrete slab below vibrate. As the roar of the hurricane’s wind increased to an other-worldly shriek, it was then I heard the immortal words of Major Frank Burns repeated by my son: “Dad – I think we should evacuate.”

It’s funny now, but at the time I thought we were all going to die.

We didn’t – in fact, my family and I were extremely fortunate. Yes, we had some roof and ceiling damage – lost some trees – but no one was hurt. Others in Pensacola were not so fortunate.

Listen – I grew up in Illinois and went through a direct hit by a tornado on December 15, 1971 – but that experience pales in comparison to what Hurricane Ivan was like. I went through Hurricanes Erin and Opal back in 1995 – but Ivan was a totally different beast – a beast you could actually hear as it tore the shingles and sheeting from your home’s roof.

Ivan’s aftermath was incredible. Even today, if you know where to look, you can still see Ivan damage.

And Ivan was classified as only a category 3 storm when the eye made landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama.

My, God! What would a category 5 be like?!

Next time, I think I will evacuate…

The home before Ivan.

The home after Ivan.

Seaside, Florida - beach before Ivan.

Same stretch of beach after Ivan.

Religion as a Tool

“WHEREFORE, Defendants, SCHOOL BOARD FOR SANTA ROSA COUNTY, FLORIDA, JOHN ROGERS, in his official capacity as Superintendent of the School District of Santa Rosa County, Florida and H. FRANK LAY, in his official capacity as Principal of Pace High School, notifies the Court that they admit liability in this action, acknowledge that Plaintiffs are entitled to certain relief and hereby request an order setting a scheduling conference and staying all discovery.

The Defendants here have admitted liability and have requested the Court’s assistance in resolving the only remaining issue; Plaintiffs’ entitlement to relief.” ~ text from the “Defendants Notice of Admission of Liability” filed December 15, 2008 before the U.S. District Court, Northern Florida.

“To think that a person can be held in criminal contempt for asking someone to say a prayer, it really concerns me and many members of Congress.” ~ Representative Jeff Miller, Republican, Chumuckla, Florida, September 16, 2009

Is there anything more despicable than a politician using religion to pander to his constituents? The religionists I despise the most are the ones that use the fear and mystery of religion to empower themselves.

For example – Congressman Jeff Miller inserting himself and his 54 Congressional “Prayer Buddies” into the Frank Lay/Robert Freeman case. In a letter addressed to Lay and Freeman, the “Congressional Prayer Caucus” totally gets it wrong. From the letter dated 9/14/09:

“…to charge someone criminally for engaging in such an innocent practice would astonish the men who founded this country on religious liberty.”

And these guys represent us – represent me – gah!

The issue, Representative Miller, is not prayer! The issue is one man [Lay] violating an Admission of Liability that he [Lay] signed along with his supervisor and employer before a U.S. District Court. And, the same undersigned man [Lay] had a subordinate [Freeman] violate the above mentioned court ordered agreement between the Plaintiffs and the Defendants. That, Representative Miller, is the issue. It’s not prayer – it’s not a prayer – it’s a man [Lay] going back on his word and, on his own, violating a previously signed agreement – oh – and then going around town shooting his mouth off about it.  If Lay’s convictions were such, why did he sign in the first place?  Why isn’t he employed at a private religious school?

Yes, Congessman Miller, the Founders of this country would be astonished. Astonished that we have publically funded (government) education.  Astonished that non-religious folk are forced to subsidize unwarranted and unwanted preaching, proselytizing and promotion of religion within that publically funded school system.

Here in the rusting Bible Belt, no politician stays in office very long unless he thumps his Bible every once in a while. This is Jeff Miller’s opportunity to pound his Bible, stamp his feet and proclaim from the mountain tops that he loves Jesus. With Congressional approval ratings nearly in single digits, unemployment rising, costs going up, war dragging on and Congress spending us into oblivion – nothing works better at distracting the voters from the real issues than good ol’ Bible thumping.

Some of us see you for what you are, Congressman Miller – a religious “puffer fish.”

Tomorrow (9/17), Lay & Freeman go to court. They’re already heroes in the eyes of religionists, so the outcome of the case will only serve to justify Lay & Freeman’s convictions (and make a mockery of signing the Admission of Liability) or make of them martyrs (and true religious liberty suffers another set back).

Either way we lose.

Frank Lay Won? Really?

H. Frank Lay - sittin' pretty

Outside the Federal Courthouse in Pensacola, Florida, there emerged victorious Pace High School Principal H. Frank Lay, smiling and waving to the assembled crowd, most of which were; A) skipping school, B) skipping work or C) unemployed. Some of the supporters actually lived in Florida – others came across state lines to; A) get on TV, B) go to the beach on Friday, or C) find a job in Florida.

Question is – since Frank Lay was let off the hook by U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers (because there was not enough evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Lay intentionally violated the Admission of Liability he signed in December 2008) then preaching, proselytizing and prayer are back “in” at Pace High School, a.k.a., “the Baptist School.”

Right?

After 9 hours of debate and 10 witnesses, Judge Rodgers said no. She stood by her previous orders, upholding case law that prohibits prayer in school.

Rodgers made it clear that “the unconstitutional promoting of religion by public school officials will not be tolerated.”

The only thing that was saved was Principal H. Frank Lay’s butt spending quality time in jail bunking with “Dr. Dino” (Kent Hovind) behind bars.

And what of H. Frank Lay?

Now that he has stood up for his principles and fought the Evil ACLU, surely he, the truly awesome super-Christian, Frank Lay, will be leading prayers at Pace High – right?

Let’s hear from our intrepid leader:

Location: exterior, Federal Courthouse, Pensacola, Florida

Time: early evening, approximately, 6:45 pm, Sept. 17, 2009

- Dan Thomas (WEAR-TV3, Pensacola) – “Principal Lay, are you sorry that prayer took place in this incident?”

- Lay: “I’m not…”

- Horatio Mihet/Lay’s lawyer (forcibly interrupting before his client ends up back in court): “Let’s just focus on the victory today.”

Later, apparently, Frank Lay and his attorney, Julio Iglesias – I mean, Horatio Mihet (an attorney for the Falwell backed-Reverend Moon funded-Liberty Counsel), must have had a long talk, because by the time the channel 3 news came on at 10:00 pm, Principal Lay had all of the right responses – for someone who wants to stay out of court:

"We regret that it caused such consternation."

[Quotes from an interview with Lay and his attorney Mihet by Dan Thomas, reporter for WEAR-TV3, Pensacola. The interview took place in front of Lay’s home. Dan Thomas’ questions have been omitted, because they were all about the same – “Do you regret praying?  and ect... ~ Ekta]

Thomas question…

- Lay: “We will be honoring the consent decree.”

Thomas question…

- Lay: “We’re just excited about the fact that we’ve been exonerated by Judge Rodgers. We appreciate her graciousness and we intend to comply with the consent decree.”

Thomas question…

- Lay: “We regret the fact that it caused such consternation. We realize now that we have to honor the consent decree.”

The same Thomas question…

- Lay: “Well – [interruption by yelling of supporters] – ha, ha – Can you rephrase your question again?”

Again, the same Thomas question…

- Lay: “We regret what resulted from it” [the prayer].

Final Thomas question to Lay…

- Lay: “We will comply with the consent decree – there’ll be some adjustments made” [at Pace High School].

I’m no brain surgeon, but it seems to me like Principal Lay intends to “comply with the consent decree.”

Score one for the ACLU.

Now – some lingering questions:

1) Was Santa Rosa County public school transportation (buses, vans, etc.) used to transport Santa Rosa County students to the courthouse?

FritoLay, Inc. - supporter of school prayer?

2) Did Frito-Lay, Inc (or PepsiCo) authorize the use of their “Lay’s” trademark for use on printed and sold T-shirts supporting Frank Lay? Does Frito-Lay, Inc. (PepsiCo) support overturning the ban on prayer in public schools?

3) Did the students who elected to stay in school in Santa Rosa County and did not attend the federal courthouse protest & vigil receive proper education and supervision? Were they “singled out” or treated differently in any way?

4) Were Pace High School students told they could miss school (wink, wink) and support Lay with no consequences by their teachers or by the school staff?

Just asking.

Experience Christianity’s Dark Side

Soldiers of Christ, lay hold

On faith’s victorious shield:

Armed with that adamant and gold,

Be sure to win the field:

If faith surround your heart,

Satan shall be subdued:

Repelled his every fiery dart,

And quenched with Jesus’ blood.

~ Charles Wesley, from the Hymnal of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1878

Santa Rosa School Board Member, representing District 4, JoAnn Simpson, is the woman who brought attention to the fact that Pace High School Principal H. Frank Lay asked a school employee and subordinate (Robert Freeman) to “bless the food” at a January school-related luncheon where students were present.

Since the time it was known that she, JoAnn Simpson, was the “whistle-blower” in the case, JoAnn Simpson has required the protection of U. S. Marshals. Her family has been harassed, threatened and they refuse to open unknown packages received in the mail.

JoAnn Simpson (Stone's Studio Photo)

To clarify; after witnessing the “blessing” at the school related luncheon, Simpson didn’t reach for her cell phone and immediately call the ACLU. No. She followed proper procedure and brought the prayer to the attention of the Santa Rosa Superintendent of Schools, Tim Wyrosdick. Simpson was aware of the recently signed “Admission of Liability” and was concerned that Lay asking Freeman to “bless the food” constituted a violation of that signed agreement with the U. S. District Court and the ACLU. (Which, of course it did – but the recent hoopla was over Frank Lay’s intentions: Did he purposely and overtly violate the signed Agreement? Judge Rodgers determined Lay did not.)

“I didn’t want to go into a lawsuit, didn’t want this to occur. I expected we could take care of it in-house,” Simpson said.*

Simpson is unaware of how her identity as the Whistle-Blower seeped out into the local Pace community or how the ACLU got her name. Even with all of the persecution, harassment, fear, threats and ‘round the clock protection, Simpson said she does not regret her actions and would do it again.

Simpson: “It’s been hard, but I would do it again, because it’s my job.”

JoAnn Simpson is not some newly elected rebel trying to “shake things up” – she is a 14 year veteran of the Santa Rosa School Board. She still has three years left in her term, and Simpson is determined to serve them out, but many in her district want her out now. Simpson, who like the rest of the district, is conservative and religious. A devout Catholic, she never dreamed that she would be an object of scorn and ridicule for Christians across the nation.

Simpson: “I’m a very religious person, [a] devout Catholic, [I] believe in prayer.”

Oh – Ms. Simpson – these “Christians” you’re dealing with and who would like to see harm done to you and/or your family – don’t really believe Catholics are Christians. At least not “Christian” like they are “Christian.” In fact, at the courthouse protest rally in support of Lay & Freeman, the only person shouted down by the crowd was a clean-cut young man in a “dog collar” – he appeared to be a Catholic priest.**

These groups supporting Lay & Freeman were overwhelmingly Protestant – not Catholic.

It may shock some Catholics, but Baptist churches still teach that the Pope, the Holy Father, is always a candidate for the Apocalyptic “Anti-Christ” that will appear, unite the world, kill most of the Jews and finally be cast alive into the “Lake of Fire” by a personal appearance of Jesus Christ. (Because of the “bad press” surrounding these teachings, some Baptists shy away from calling Catholics “followers of anti-Christ” – they’ve turned to condemning Islam instead, which is much more palatable in light of our current situation.)

Why, it was just a few years ago that I heard Frank Lay’s pastor, Dr. Ted Traylor of Olive Baptist Church, proclaim that the Pope was actually a Baptist. Why? Because the Pope went directly to God for forgiveness of sin, just like a Baptist would.

If you ask an honest Protestant: Are Catholics saved? (By “saved” I mean “born again” or on their way to Heaven.) Most honest Protestants will answer, “Well, there are saved Catholics…”

So, Ms. Simpson, when these Protestant Christians torment you, they are acting as “Christian Soldiers” quenching the fiery darts of Satan. They consider you a Satanic tool and so justify their very un-Christ-like actions. They consider you to be like Judas; walking closely with the Lord, but secretly serving the Devil.

According to a WEAR-TV3 interview, JoAnn Simpson “hopes now that the trial is over, tempers will cool, and things will get back to normal in Santa Rosa County.”

Simpson: “What kind of message are we giving our children? That if you don’t like a rule or law that you can protest or threaten somebody instead of going through the courts?

“What concerned me was that some child was going to get hurt simply because of being overzealous. I’ve had a parent tell me she was afraid her child would get into a fight in school.

“Hopefully people will take a breath, say ‘I understand your point’…then you can have dialogue…”

I wouldn’t hold your breath, Ms. Simpson.

Oh, and I would hang on to those U. S. Marshals…

 

*[Thanks to WEAR-TV3 reporter Laurie Bernstein. All JoAnn Simpson quotes are from Ms. Bernstein’s exclusive interview with Ms. Simpson on 9/17/09. ~ Ekta]

**[He was and his name is Rev. Nathan Monk, Pastor, St. Faustina Old Catholic Church, Pensacola.]

PepsiCo & Frito-Lay Back Religion in Public School

“Let him that stole, steal!  No more let him labour working with his hands.  The thing, which is good, that he may have.” ~ an intentional mis-reading of Ephesians 4:28 (KJV)

It’s rare for a large conglomerate like PepsiCo, which owns Frito-Lay, Inc., to grant permission for use of their logo to raise funds for such a divisive issue as public prayer in public schools.

c. 2000 - "The Joy of Cola"

But, apparently, the same company that set Michael Jackson’s hair on fire and used the svelte teenaged body of Britney Spears to promote its product has seen The Light.  No more will PepsiCo be seen as a promoter of homosexuality, gay marriage or any such thing that would cause your average Baptist to have a holy conniption fit – no.  PepsiCo, through its Frito-Lay Brand has decided who drinks the most soda and who eats the most potato chips.

It’s those Christians.

Yeah – that’s right – while all the Pagans and ACLU lawyers are consuming large quantities of Budweiser & Stella Artois (what attorneys drink) hanging out at Hooters, Christians everywhere, but especially in Northwest Florida, are curling up in their Snuggies with a 12-Pack of Mountain Dew and a bag of Doritos and watching Kirk Cameron in his latest Christian flick.

Who knew?

Well, apparently the Big Money Marketing Minds at PepsiCo did.  They spotted this trend last year and decided to get on board with the Religion of the Fish.

So, when the Frank Lay prayer case popped up in January of this year – why it was a God-send (literally) for Frito-Lay and they wasted no time granting permission for Pace High School to have a local T-shirt company (Paradise Screenprinting in Milton, Florida) knock off the Frito-Lay logo.

What’s really clever is that each printed T-shirt looks like a bag of Lay’s potato chips!  They’re bright yellow and across the front is the “Lay’s” logo, unaltered, with the sunflower art as a subtle reminder that Lay’s chips use the healthier sunflower oil.

Ingenious!  No wonder the Mad Men at PepsiCo & Frito-Lay earn the enormous salaries that they do – they deserve it.  Again, bravo!

So, this past Friday (Sept. 18) when the Frank Lay Prayer Case made national news, the bright yellow “Lay’s” logo was associated with preserving religion in public schools, creation taught as science in the classroom and teachers having the right to preach and proselytize students while in public school.

Makes me want to run to Wal-mart, grab a big bag of Lay’s Classic Potato Chips, a 2-Litre Pepsi and a copy of The Purpose Driven Life.

Now, I know what you’re thinking – and you’re wrong.

Actual Lay's logo

You’re probably thinking that the students at Pace High School didn’t ask for permission to use the Lay’s logo and just had Paradise Screenprinting rip it off (otherwise known as “stealing”).  Any reputable screen printing company would know that they could be sued for “unauthorized use”, so I’m sure that didn’t happen.  And besides, what little screen printing business would want to tangle with PepsiCo?

Besides, these people from Pace High were Christians – and, if I remember right, out of over 600-and-some-odd commandments God gave, one of them was and still is, “Thou shalt not steal” – and using a company’s intellectual and artistic property without permission and making money from that theft is certainly stealing.

Oh, I know – other Christians have done it.

We’ve all seen the bootlegged Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes praying at the foot of The Cross – clearly a violation of Bill Watterson’s copyright.  (Watterson has never authorized any images of Calvin and Hobbes for anything – so if you see Calvin wizzing on a Chevy, it’s a bootleg.)  Oh, and the use of the Coca-Cola-style lettering spelling out “Jesus Christ” – clearly unauthorized use, since Jesus never made anything other than wine.

Lately, the music industry has frowned upon having their artist’s property stolen without due compensation and has actually sued individuals for downloading music illegally.  So, if PepsiCo – Frito-Lay, Inc. decided to sue individuals for stealing their intellectual and artist property, the suit would not be without precedent.

But is it really stealing if it’s for a good cause?

Depends on what the definition of “good” is.

“Situational Ethics” – that’s in the Bible somewhere…right?

BJU Review…Review

Somehow I’ve managed to stay on the Bob Jones University mailing list, and, as a result, I received a copy of the BJU Review magazine, Fall 2009 edition.

For those of you who don’t know, Bob Jones University publishes a quarterly, full-color magazine. The magazine is small – only 23 pages – and focuses primarily on the University, its programs, faculty, staff and students. The inside contains a lot of fluff and promotional material – as to be expected – and “brag-a-monies”. Brag-a-monies are Christian testimonies about how “God is working in my life” by recognizing me with awards, money, position, etc.

Also, there are itineraries for the family Jones. For example: Dr. Bob Jones III (along with Mrs. Jones III) will be in Labasa, Fiji on Nov. 19, 2009 and Dr. Stephen Jones was in Washington, D.C. at the University sponsored “Friendship Banquet” on Oct. 6, 2009. (Does BJU have friends in Washington, D.C.?!)

But, what caught my attention were the photos scattered throughout the BJU Review.

It has been roughly 35 years since the University started admitting “unmarried Negros” and it has been 26 years (this November 30) since BJU lost its appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s been almost a decade since Dr. Bob Jones III made his pronouncement on CNN’s Larry King Live that BJU had reversed its policy on interracial dating – a policy which, prior to the Presidential Elections of 2000 (and “W” speaking at the University), was strictly enforced by expelling students who dated or married outside of their own race. And finally, not even a year has passed (at this writing) since BJU President Dr. Stephen Jones “apologized” for the University’s many years of racial discrimination and segregation.  (I say “apologized” because Jones blamed the University’s racial policies on American culture and attitudes at the time.)

Now, back to the BJU Review, Fall 2009 – consider the racial make-up of the photos…

How many “Colored Christians” are contained in these color(ed) pages?

The BJU Review, Fall 2009 cover: 8 whites, 1 black

p.2: 7 whites

p.3: 7 whites

p.4: No people – street sign & NYC street view with Madame Tussauds visible.

p.5: Crowd of white BJU students in NYC

p.6: No people – shot of 9/11 Gallery & sermons available on CD

p.7: Group of 10 white BJU students

p.8 & 9: 5 white faculty/staff members

p.10: 3 white people

p.11: 13 white businessman (speakers for the “Biblical Business Ethics” forum)

p.12: 1 white university President – sans goatee

p.13: [in the “fold”] 4 white students on “find out more” promo material, also itineraries for various BJU “big-shots”, personnel & reps

p.14: No people – “Sacred Audio.com” article text (uh-oh – BJU is using a Jesus Fish)

p.15: 13 white people, ½ black girl (most of face covered with hymnal)

p.16: 2 white people

p.17: 2 white people

p.18: Crowd of white BJU students in regalia

p.19: 1 black female student smiling

p.20: Approximately 15 white students in regalia, 1 Asian, 1 black student

p.21: No people – “Know Your Campus?” – trivia about BJU campus

p.22: 1 white person

p.23: No people – buy BJU logo items (fleece blanket & water bottle) at the BJU Campus Store

Back Cover: 2 white students

 

So, the final tally is: 1 Asian,  3 ½ Black,  100 + White people.

The rules may have changed at Bob Jones University, but if the BJU Review is any indicator, the look of the University has remained the same.

Lets look at some BJU Reviews of the past:

BJU Review Winter 1991 – 1 Asian, 2 Black (1 is not a student)

 

 

BJU Review Spring 1992 – 2 Black (neither are students)

 

 

So, what did I expect? A multi-cultural paradise where “Colored Christians” and regular (i.e., white) Christians study, learn, mingle, date and, eventually, produce the next generation of caramel-colored Bob Jones University students?

Well, yes – actually – that would’ve been nice.

But the truth is there are too many people at BJU who loved the University just the way it was – and they will quietly make sure it stays that way.

BJU Review…Review 2

Some additional observations regarding the Fall 2009 issue of the BJU Review…

First – It appears that the interracial dating regulations have not been the only rules to have been changed.

Actually, I noticed this change before I received my copy of the latest BJU Review. While doing some reading for the “BJU Beer Summit” , I discovered a photo on the official BJU.edu website of the University’s president, Dr. Stephen Jones, with a goatee. Naturally, I thought it was a joke, so I stumbled around inside the BJU website and found videos of Dr. Jones speaking to potential students – and he still had the goatee.

Now I’m thinking, this is no joke – BJU has lifted the ban on male facial hair.

Evil Twin?

Facial hair (beards, moustaches, goatees and any combination of the three) was forbidden at BJU. Why? Well, not because of any Biblical reason – it was because facial hair was associated with a sloven appearance and with beatniks, hippies and those who were rebelling against society. Several times during my illustrious educational career at BJU I was called out for not shaving – even on weekends. “It’s not a school day,” I used to sarcastically reply, but the answer was always the same: “Doesn’t matter. Every day is a school day at BJU.”

Quick story – there were some staff members who were allowed moustaches. I remember one fellow who worked in the bowels of the University’s computer room back in the late 70’s. His moustache was allowed because he had some sort of malformed lip. (Yes – I asked.) During the shooting of the BJU/Unusual Films motion picture Sheffey (this was back in 1976-77) many students, staff and faculty were asked to be cast members and extras in the feature length film set in the late 1800’s. Naturally, real facial hair looks more realistic than fake, so these extras and cast were asked to “grow their own.” But – these bearded exceptions to the “no beard” rule were asked to wear large badges (like political buttons) identifying them as Sheffey cast members. Got a Sheffey badge? Your beard is okay.

Inside the BJU Review 2009 fall issue, I counted three – yes, 3, goatees, all sported by BJU employees. Strangely though, the picture of Dr. Stephen Jones was sans goatee. I can only speculate as to why. An old picture? More conservative (i.e., cleanly shaven) individuals still read only print media? He only wears the goatee for the BJU web presence?

Dr. Stephen Jones should wear the goatee with pride – a lot of men do.

Second – Inside the latest BJU Review, two recent Cinema grads are mentioned. One, Sarah Nevius (2009 MA Cinema) won 3rd place in a film festival with her film on grief called Solace. Always good to see a fellow cinema grad do something with the major, but the award came from Fireworks International’s Redemptive Film Festival, which, at the same 2009 ceremony, gave religious huckster Paul Crouch of TBN fame a “Lifetime Achievement” award.  Yikes.

The other Cinema major is Darcy Faylor who entered a screen writing contest and won $10,000 for her script Moody Field.  The article in the BJU Review describes her winning script as this:

Darcy’s script recounts the story of a family in World War II America…the family hires German prisoners of war from…a nearby prison camp in Valdosta, Georgia. The family learns to embrace German prisoners of war as equal members of society. The script, with its themes of love and forgiveness, contains a strong salvation message. “This story…is based on actual events,” Darcy said.

Yes – the “actual events” sound very much like the novel and the movie (the two, as usual, are slightly different) Summer of My German Soldier.  The novel by Bette Greene, was first published in 1973, and later adapted into a TV movie starring Kristy McNichol and Bruce Davison in 1978. (Kristy McNichol retired from acting over a decade ago, but you probably remember Bruce Davison as Attorney Wyck Fayer in Seinfeld.)

Here’s a short synopsis of the TV movie Summer of My German Soldier:

Patty Bergen (Kristy McNichol) is a teenager in a Jewish family living in the American South (Arkansas) during World War II. Her town eventually becomes host to a prisoner of war camp. A young German soldier (Bruce Davison) escapes from this camp and Patty finds him hiding in her “secret place” in the woods outside of town. After getting to know him, she ends up harboring him from his captors, and falls in love with him. Patty knows what she is risking to help him. In the end, his regard for her lifts her self-esteem and helps Patty face life and its heart breaks.

Short of the “strong salvation message”, the two stories sound eerily similar. Remove the Jewish girl (Patty) and substitute a Christian one. Instead of making her a loner (like Patty), involve the whole family. Move the locale from Arkansas to Georgia. Add Biblical salvation and take out respect and self-esteem.

An original script?

On the surface, they appear to have the same source material – with a few Christian “tweaks” thrown in.

Is it plagiarism?  Maybe – I don’t know.

It may not be a full beard, but it’s definitely a goatee.

 

“Dress Information” Excerpts, from top to bottom: BJU Student Handbook 1979, 1982, 1984, 1986.

[Goatee Panorama, from left to right: Rick Warren, V.I. Lenin, Philip Yancey, Evil Mr. Spock (Mirror, Mirror), Nathan Bedford Forrest, T.D. Jakes, Bart Ehrman, "The Master" (Dr. Who), Satan (South Park)]

The Dormsbury Incident

Being expelled from college, or in Bob Jones University terminology, “shipped”, can be, as in my case, a life-changing or life-altering experience. The experience certainly left an impression on me – even after 27 years.

Yes – that’s right – 27 years and I still think about it. No April 23rd ever goes by without me thinking about what happened that afternoon, three (3) weeks short of graduation, in 1982.

And this news item (AP story here) about the Louisiana Justice of the Peace who refused to marry interracial couples because, according to Justice of the Peace, Keith Bardwell, “I just don’t believe in mixing the races that way” (CNN story here) brought back a lot of memories of the rancor, acrimony and paranoia that permeated the BJU campus during the IRS v. BJU tax exemption fight back in 1981 – 82.

It was during this time, Bob Jones University, the Dean of Men (Tony Miller) and the Dean of Students (Jim Berg) sent an official letter home to my parents giving them three reasons why I had been shipped – but that wasn’t the whole story – what the University left out in the “official” Letter of Expulsion were the unrecorded and unwritten statements made by Tony Miller – statements that were unusually cruel, judgmental and, as it turned out, totally wrong.

In addition to Tony Miller’s unrecorded oral statements, there were also “off-the-record” reasons for expelling me – reasons that were not spelled out in the official BJU letter sent to my parents’ home. One of those undocumented reasons was a 4-panel cartoon strip that I drew (anonymously) called Dormsbury.

It’s hard to explain now, but at the time, Bob Jones University was embroiled in the fight to keep its Tax Exempt status and, in the national media, the University was under fire for its policy of “no interracial dating.” The fact that the Administration based their stand, their prejudice, their bias on Scripture angered me.

Dormsbury came about after a BJU student poked fun at a Doonesbury strip that mentioned BJU by publishing his own Doonesbury-like strip accusing Doonesbury (Garry Trudeau) of ignoring the fact that African-Americans actually attend BJU. (The 3-panel strip had a crude caricature of Garry Trudeau walking across the BJU campus with a giant pencil eraser in hand, erasing African-American BJU students because they “weren’t supposed to be there.”)

Being a closet Doonesbury fan, I decided to make my own little cartoon, voilà, Dormsbury was born.

I would quietly sketch the cartoon in my dorm room, then “ink” it with a fine tip Sharpee. The strip was really for my amusement and for the amusement of other like-minded individuals – I never meant for it to be circulated around campus.

But it was.

We did not have locks on our dorm room doors at BJU and someone, I never found out who, took many of my originals, even some of the unfinished pencil sketches, copied them and posted them on bulletin boards around campus.

Yep – not good.

Anyway, about a month ago, while digging through a closet in my home office, I found a few Dormsbury originals – some still unfinished – the paper wrinkled and yellowed with age. Using various computer aids, I tried to restore them to their former infamous glory…

The “Roy” mentioned above, was the BJU CFO, Roy Barton.

The “Chancellor”, at the time, was Dr. Bob Jones, Jr.  This strip actually foretold what the future Chancellor, Dr. Bob Jones III, would admit on Larry King Live in 2000 — that the interracial dating policy was “worthless” and not supported by Scripture — my original assertion.

I couldn’t find the finished original, so I had to use the pencil sketch to produce this.  BTW, there is no TV station WAX (that I know of). ~ EKTA

So Larry David Peed on Jesus

…to be more accurate, a painting representing Jesus – and this act of urination for comedic purposes is seen as an insult to Christianity, its symbols and “miracles.”

The whizzing in question takes place on Larry David’s hit TV show (HBO) Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry (plays a TV version of himself) is taking some pill that that increases urine flow and, like so many times before in Curb, Larry is caught in an awkward situation of having to relieve himself with no or (in this case) little (as in small) facilities available. (NOTE: Anyone who has ever watched Seinfeld or Curb Your Enthusiasm will recognize this common Larry David plot convention – the more socially awkward, the better.) Larry ends up splattering on a Jesus painting – later, the pissed-on painting is seen as a miracle because it looks as though the portrait of Jesus is crying, à la, The Weeping Virgin, et al.

Deal Hudson, author and publisher of InsideCatholic.com, said he doesn’t find any humor in the episode.

“I don’t think it’s funny,” Hudson told Foxnews.com. “Why is it that people are allowed to publicly show that level of disrespect for Christian symbols? If the same thing was done to a symbol of any other religions — Jewish or Muslim — there’d be a huge outcry. It’s simply not a level playing field.”

Hudson said an apology from the show’s producers and writing team should be issued.

“Somebody should [apologize],” Hudson said. “When is it going to stop? When is common sense going to dictate that people realize this willingness of artists to do to Christianity what they would never do to Judaism or Islam?” ~ Foxnews.com, 10/28/09

Obviously, Mr. Hudson has never watched Seinfeld or Curb Your Enthusiasm and is unfamiliar with Larry David’s style and shtick. Since Seinfeld’s first airing in 1991, there hasn’t been a minority, a nationality, a disease, a physical infirmity, a sexual orientation, a social situation, a holiday or a religion that hasn’t been made fun of! Judaism included; for example, the Curb episode where Larry David torments a fellow Jew by having an orchestra play Wagner outside his window (“Trick or Treat”, Season 2, Episode 3).

Now – as far as I know, Islam hasn’t been treated to Larry David’s sense of humor. Why? In spite of all of its notoriety, Islam just isn’t that familiar to most people. It’s hard to write good comedy about a subject that the majority of the viewing audience is unfamiliar with. Good comedy comes from a familial relationship with the subject – there’s an element of truth in the joke. How can we laugh at Islam when most of us have no idea what the truth is? (A priest, a rabbi and an imam go into a bar….just doesn’t work – on so many levels…)

Another thing – Islam guards its Holy Prophet better than Christianity guards Jesus, Mary or any other Biblical Holy One. Islam prohibits depiction of the Prophet Muhammad.

On the other hand, Christianity has turned Jesus into a commodity. Mel Gibson is praised for beating the living daylights out of Christ in his film – Jesus is graphically crucified on a daily basis at The Holy Land Experience in Orlando, Florida – televangelists regularly invoke the “name of Jesus” to raise donations and expand their religious empires – Contemporary Christian Music uses rock-n-roll and Jesus to sell albums – Christian writers sell books by claiming they have insight into the “mind of Christ” – apocalyptic-end-time preachers use Jesus to build an audience and laugh all the way to the bank – there are Jesus Fish, Jesus bobble-heads, Jesus cartoons, Jesus in Cheetos, Jesus-is-my-home-boy clothes…

…according to Christian doctrine, we, each member of the human race – we are responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. Being imperfect, Jesus had to die for us.

Makes peeing on a painting seem pretty mild in comparison.

Maybe that’s what Mr. David was trying to tell us.

Larry David — theologian for the Common Man.

Perry Stone was Right

November hurricanes are rare, very rare –

So rare, in fact, that it makes me wonder – is this hurricane just happenstance or is it, like Perry Stone says, the Judgment of Almighty God?

You see, Perry Stone, Chuck Baldwin, Gordon Godfrey, John Hagee, et al, have all stated many times that the hurricanes striking the U.S. gulf coast are the direct result of immoral activity – by “immoral”, they usually mean “homosexual”. Since these gentlemen are Men of God who receive knowledge, insight and wisdom directly from the Mind of Almighty God, one can only assume that God is really angry about something in Pensacola.

Let’s look at the newspaper – all of the “immoral” activity took place over the weekend – there was the Perdido Key Martini Festival, the Nerd Invasion at the Silver Screen movie theatre and Marcy Playground in concert – there was the Gulf Coast Arts Festival in Seville Square, Pensacola (of course, we all know most artists are gay) – and yet, the weekend was beautiful! Absolutely perfect!

But today (Monday, November 9) there’s a hurricane just off the coast – it’s cloudy, windy, rainy – schools are closed – the beaches are empty – the roads flooded – What has changed? – What activity could be going on that would enrage the Almighty?

From the Pensacola News Journal…

Baptists flocking to annual meeting

About 2,000 people expected for event

The 148th annual meeting of the Florida Baptist State Convention comes to Pensacola later this month, the first visit of the state’s largest evangelical group to Northwest Florida since 2002.

About 2,000 Baptist pastors, administrators and church members are expected to attend the gathering, which takes place Nov. 9-10 at Olive Baptist Church.

This year’s theme is “Imagine If …”

Baptist Invasion

Ah – I think we’ve found the source of the trouble – it’s all of those Southern Baptists!

Maybe God has grown weary of Southern Baptists being such lousy tippers at Denny’s.

Maybe God still hasn’t gotten over the fact that the Southern Baptist Convention was originally created because of the belief that African-Americans should stay enslaved and have their own churches.

And speaking of “Southern Tradition”, maybe it’s the fact that the convention is being hosted by Olive Baptist Church – the home church of Principal H. Frank Lay – the public school principal who believes everyone in public school should pray – whether they want to or not – no matter what the law says.

Maybe God has tired of the absolutely awful music composed and performed in His name – Contemporary Christian Music groups (like those headlining the convention) that take the secular elements of rock music and interweave them with quasi-religious lyrics.

Maybe God is upset that the 2009 Florida Baptist Pastor’s Conference and State Convention has ripped off its theme (“Imagine”) from John Lennon…

I don’t know.

All I know is that these Baptists are leaving on Tuesday, November 10 –

– and the forecast for the rest of the week is sunny and clear – with a high in the lower 70’s.

A coincidence?

Bob Jones University – 20 Flashbacks

Random Bob Jones University Memories…

Judging from the feedback I’ve received, on and off the web, both positive and negative, there seems to be some interest in life at Bob Jones University – more specifically, my life at Bob Jones University.

Occasionally, and usually without warning, random BJU “flashbacks” will snap me out of the here-and-now and for a moment…I’m back walking the well-worn covered sidewalks of the Fortress of Faith.

Some recent forgotten BJU moments:

A group of master debaters -- Sam is far right.

1) The time I received 25 demerits for calling Sam Lamerson “The Master Debater” because Sam was a member of the University Debate Association. Someone more spiritual than I overheard me say “Master Debater” and “turned me in” to the proper BJ authorities.

2) Since you brought up masturbation, the memory of Mr. Tony Miller’s “Masturbation Lectures” still haunts me. At a “Men’s Dorm Meeting”, Mr. Miller would stand on a chair and preach to the assembled dorm occupants about the evils of masturbation. Some of his more disturbing quotes:

“Men, there are those here who will continue this and prefer it to sexual intercourse with their wives.”

“When you fantasize about a woman while masturbating, you not only harm your spirit, you sully hers.”

Mr. "M"

Hard to believe the wizards-of-smart at BJU later promoted this moron to Dean of Men where I believe he continued his “Big M” lectures via the on-campus radio station WBJU AM 620.

3) Listening to Dr. Katherine Stenholm go off on Tina Turner’s song, What’s Love Got to Do with It. Dr. Stenholm believed that art (whether a song, painting, photograph or motion picture) was immoral if it did not punish or condemn immorality. She spent an entire class hour explaining to us why Ms. Turner’s song was immoral.

4) As BJU Cinema students, we were required to plan our budget for our student film projects – the thing is we had to figure in another 15 to 20% to cover what we film students called “The Pachter Factor”. Fredrick J. Pachter was the cinema faculty member that processed our black & white 16mm motion picture film – and he had a habit of ruining a good bit of it. So, when we students would be shooting, we always shot more footage than we needed to cover “The Pachter Factor.”

5) Watching a film about the Holocaust during Cinema Lab, the supervising cinema instructor, Mr. Bruce Polhamus, covered the lens of the film projector during the scenes showing dead, naked, female bodies. Did Mr. Polhamus think those scenes were sexy?

6) Cinema faculty member, Mr. Ray Gahagen, a small be-speckled, Woody Allen look-a-like who spent an enormous amount of time trying to computerize our manually controlled ACME animation camera and stand. Mr. Gahagen spent weeks cooped up in a small, lime-green room in the Animation Department writing in machine code and BASIC. We’d ask him, “How’s it going, Mr. Gahagen?” His reply was always the same: “Still working the bugs out.”

Mr. Gahagen was later “let go” for reasons – well – let me just say he and Woody Allen had a lot more than looks in common…

We never did get that ACME stand computerized.

7) Spring time, in the back of the Concert Center (now called Stratton Hall), when I caught my speech teacher, Mr. Don Ryerson and his fiancé, Miss Rosa Miles “making out” – BJU style. All I said was, “Hi, Mr. Ryerson!” in a very cheery voice. He and Miss Miles could’ve been severely disciplined or fired, but I never said a word. My speech grades did improve, however.

8) Speaking of the Concert Center, I pooped on the roof in the spring of 1980. Some other time – it’s a long story.

9) Someone was smoking pot on first floor of Johnson (Dormitory) during the summer of 1981. Never found out who – dammit.

10) If you were a really good looking girl and you took Mr. Wade K. Ramsey’s Photography 101 class, you would get an “A”.

11) October 1984 – Dr. Bob Jones III convenes the first ever (and only) BJU “Ghost Busters Chapel.” Seems a student, James E. Witt, worked part-time for a taxidermist and managed to snag a set of bear paws and bear feet and brought them back to campus. Apparently, bear paws and feet, when stripped of their fur (pelt? skin?) look very similar to human hands and feet. Mr. Witt had the bright idea of leaving these human remain look-a-likes on the keyboard and pedals of a student piano located in the University’s “Practice Shacks”. Someone actually did think they were human and called the Greenville (South Carolina) police AND Dr. Bob III at approximately 2:00 AM. Later that same day, Dr. Bob III called a campus assembly and proclaimed any Halloween pranks or ghost stories “off-limits”. In other words – expulsion. Hence, the “Ghost Busters” Chapel.

12) Grady Stone from Wilson, North Carolina predicted the MP3 player, February 1980.

13) It was I, Ektachrome, who invented the first “Walkman” long before Sony ever did. Back in the late fall of 1978, I took my RCA 9-volt transistor radio and spliced together two sets of audio ear-plugs so I could listen to WFBC-AM after lights out (11:00 PM). Everything – the radio and the ear-plugs – could be hidden safely inside the stuffing of my pillow. Unlike the Sony Walkman, my radio wasn’t stereo, but at least I kept up with the Top-40 of the late 70’s.

Dr. G. Salter

14) Bob Jones University – the only place where I have met two people who actually met and shook hands with Adolf Hitler – and later came to work on faculty at BJU – Dr. Guenter Salter and Ms. Edith Long. Unusual, indeed.

15) The day in Child Psychology Dr. Walter Fremont walked from his desk to where I was sitting and rubbed his hands through my curly hair and said, “There’s a ni**er in the woodpile!”

To this day I have no idea what that had to do with class.

He, Dr. Fremont, was also the guy that declared it was “okay” to make fun of fat people because “they can help it.”

16) I experienced repeated episodes of “counseling” by various dormitory supervisors. First there was Mr. Craig Olsen, Dorm Supervisor of Reveal Dormitory – Mr. Olsen was fat, soft, effeminate and a total prick. Second, there was Mr. Doug Sprunger, a total creep. This guy played a major role in finally getting me “shipped” (expelled).

There is an addendum to Doug Sprunger – he later became pastor at a small church near the Ektachrome Family Compound in Illinois. My only hope is that Illinois treats him as well as he treated me.

17) I hate to admit it – the rice & gravy at the Dining Commons was divine.

18) 1981 – my roommate and I snuck off to see Raiders of the Lost Ark. Twice.

19) I got in trouble in Biological Science Survey for laughing at Mark Dutton and Dave Doran drawing “smiley faces” on pictures of male genitalia in our biology textbook. (The seating was alphabetical – Doran, Dutton, Ektachrome, etc.) I was fine until Dutton tilted the book in my direction and said, “Oh look! He’s happy!”

20) And last, a salute to the BJU Vintage (yearbook) Staff of 1981, who, when faced with a spacing problem on page 285, invented a student to fill the space – Cecil H. Sandersen of Zephryhills, Florida.

This event took place in the days long before Photoshop – they cut the head off of an underclassman and pasted it onto the body of an upperclassman. Brilliant.

Only problem was, “Cecil’s” face was the real face of a real student named Doug Haughton, Jr. (on page 297) – and friends of Doug’s pointed out the fact that he was also “Cecil H. Sandersen” – well, the jig was up. Dr. Bob Jones III came down hard on the 1981 Vintage Staff.

I’m sure they’re still suffering…

1981 BJU "Vintage" Staff

 Twenty Flashbacks – that’s enough for now.

In Their Own Words – Bob Jones University’s Dean of Men

The following is a transcript of a Bob Jones University men’s dormitory radio “dorm meeting.” It was broadcast in 1996 on WBJU AM 620, an on campus only radio station available to Bob Jones University students.

What would happen is this: the radio dorm meeting would be announced and, at 10:30 PM, each room on each floor of each men’s dormitory would be required to tune in Radio 62, WBJU and listen. Enforcement was by each individual room’s Assistant Prayer Captain (APC), hallway Prayer Captains (PC) and each hallway Monitor.

Then, like FDR’s “Fireside Chats”, we men were regaled by the wisdom of Dean of Men Tony Miller and toady (in this particular case, Jon Dalton).

Remember – this is a university. The “men” being addressed are between the ages of 18 and 25-plus.

Also remember, Tony Miller was part of the BJU Administration – supposedly highly trained and highly educated.

Not a word has been changed or altered. I’ve tried my best to break up the transcript into readable paragraphs — and readable sentences — hey, it was hard.

Enjoy…

Asst. Dean of Men, Jon Daulton

Bob Jones University Assistant Dean of Men Jon Daulton:

…and please refrain from using words that could be considered un[audio dropout] toward Christian behavior and language. Some example words are words like “hock”, “gee”, “golly”, “gosh”, etc. This is definitely out of keeping with Christian character that we are trying to maintain here.

Dean of Men, Tony "M" Miller

Bob Jones University Dean of Men Tony Miller:

Thank you, Mr. Dalton, and - uh - along the lines of that last announcement is some of what I want to talk to you about tonight. - uh - Recently I‘ve been getting reports that have concerned me about what our young men are doing in the dorm or out around on campus - uh - place their focus – that they’re making their heart focus on the comments that they’re making, words that they are using.

I understand there are a lot of individuals using the term “crap”.

Now - uh - let me just mention this, men. There are some words I’m going to speak about tonight that – uh - we’re not - uh - are not encouraging you to use, simply because I’m making reference to them or encouraging you to look at the etymology of words.

- uh - You hear people today use the term “that sucks” or “you suck” and - uh - have no idea that they’re being more than just derogatory toward someone. When they have to check into the etymology, what they find out that this has to do with the description of homosexual’s activity in oral sex. And - uh - I know many of you have never heard that, but you really need to realize that some people are thinking that when you use that term, though you might not be thinking - uh - that you’re not being anything more than derogatory.

Let me give you a example of some other things - uh - one of my assistants recently mentioned that until he looked up the idea behind the word “shaft”. You hear people say, “I got shafted” or “you should be shafted”. That has the idea of sexual intercourse and - uh - if you look up that in its etymology, or what we would call the connotation of it, you’ll find a problem on it.

Some people call another person, you’re nothing but a - uh - a “woose” – and - uh – that is certainly not just being derogatory in its etymology. That originally started out in - uh - referring to female gentile parts - uh - genteel parts, that is, not gentile. We want to make sure we’re correct on that. But - uh - gen – gentle parts of a woman, saying that a guy who is an effeminate individual that was - uh - referring to female parts.

- uh - You know, a lot of guys , I guess in the dorm are - uh - are being crude - uh - using terms that refer to men’s sexual parts in a crude or crass way. There are scientific ways of referring to men’s - uh - parts - uh - you know you can speak of a man’s pee – penis. - uh - But there are men that go around saying “you’re nothing but a dick”, and that is - uh - certainly - uh - profaning and making light of that part a man’s - uh - body. - uh -You know, referring to a man’s - uh - testicles as his “balls” and that sort of thing, once again is getting off on the light side or the profane side.

- uh - Once again – uh – - uh - defecating - uh - is often times - uh - used in a profane way with “SH” word, but - uh - some people are doing that in a eu - uh - euphemistic way of using the term “crap”.

And, men, we really need to be careful in regards to our speech, our focus and where we’re putting our minds - uh - you know, just an excessive focus on the sexual parts. And men or women – uh - can only tend to lean toward inappropriate thoughts and…[audio fades out]

If you have 4 minutes to kill, you can hear the actual recording here. The recording is poor in quality — probably because the person recording the radio address could have and would have been severely disciplined or expelled.

This Was Your Prosperity Gospel Life! (Part 1 of 10)

Exploring what may happen when Your Best Life Now ends…

Presented Chick tract-style in 10 parts.

Now dedicated to the late Oral Roberts.

This Was Your Prosperity Gospel Life! (Part 2 of 10)

“Workin’ too hard can give you

A heart attackackackackackack”

This Was Your Prosperity Gospel Life! (Part 3 of 10)

…so he’s naked – but at least he wasn’t “Left Behind”…

This Was Your Prosperity Gospel Life! (Part 4 of 10)

Our adventure into the Proserity Gospel – Word Faith Afterlife continues…

…where we meet God in the next two panels…stay tuned…

Missed Parts 1 thru 3?  Click here -> Part 1     Part 2     Part 3

This Was Your Prosperity Gospel Life! (Part 5 of 10)

Part 5…where we meet God and learn why the Jews control Hollywood…

Next, in part 6, “This Was Your Prosperity Gospel Life” on the big screen!

This Was Your Prosperity Gospel Life! (Part 6 of 10)

NOTE: No cats or any other animals were harmed in the making of this Jack Chick parody.

This Was Your Prosperity Gospel Life! (Part 7 of 10)

NOTE – The following sermon text was taken word-for-word from actual TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network) transcripts.  Not a word was added…

* “God’s Economy of Giving”, as explained by TBN Founder Paul Crouch:  People who donate to TBN will reap financial blessings from a grateful God.  The more money they give, the more He will give to them.  “He’ll give you thousands”, said Crouch, “He’ll give you millions and billions of dollars!”

Next…from bad to worse…

This Was Your Prosperity Gospel Life! (Part 8 of 10)

Part 8 — Where we learn there’s a Book where you DON”T want to find your name.