Posted on 10/17/2007 11:54:18 AM PDT by Minister E
Black on black crime is alive an prevalent in America today. We continually bash each other on the radio and in print. When will we stop the hate and just learn to love our brother?
(Excerpt) Read more at snakesin thepulpit.com ...
Welcome to Free Republic.
MY EYES!! Welcome to FR.
IBTZ...
If only for the lack of paragraphs!
I would think that dying on a cross was not considered "building up" 2000 years ago. If a man is blessed with the thing of this world, who is doing the blessing? Is worldly success a sign of God's favor? God sure has blessed a lot of evil men then.
When you went to John, did you expect to see a reed that easily bends in the wind? but what did you go out to see A man clothed in soft garments, behold those who were soft garments are in the houses of the kings..
It’s not unusual to have a prominent Pastor or Minister attacked in the media, if it is untrue, then there are no worries, Mt 5.11 is still in effect as far as I know...
In point of fact I think it is a healthy thing for people to not allow the fact that a man is the same race as they are to stop them from criticizing that man.
You shouldn't be upset that a black man is criticizing another black man - after all, no one is perfect and above criticism.
I too am uncomfortable with pastors who live the high life - but you are also correct: churches need money in order to undertake charitable initiatives, and far better that churches should take in voluntary donations than the government should extract involuntary taxes.
paragraphed version:
It pains me how we as black people love to drag our brother down.
We have developed a crabs in the bucket mentality. We can’t stand to see our brother succesful. We say we have overcome, but the effects of dissension bought about by slavery is very apparent.
Now we have reached a new low by bashing our black pastors. Just because we throw one white guy in the mix dosen’t change a thing.
Listening to The Micheal Baisden Show yesterday I was apalled at how he was degrading our black pastors. What in your right mind would have you call a man of God a punk, because of his opinion.
He also had an author on his show who wrote a book titled Snakes in the Pulpit. W[h]ere he says that mega church pastors are false prophets and they are all about the money. He is fixated on Pastor T. D. Jakes, Creflo Dollar, Eddie Long, and he threw in Joel Olsten for good measure.
Every time I hear these silly comments I know they have not read the Bible or understand it. If they have they would know time after time in the Bible God made men who sought sfter Him and followed His commamdments rich. They obviously have not heard of Abraham, Solomon, Moses, and David just to name a few distinct one there are many others.
Also in the same Bible you see where God takes away the wealth from the men who stray and do wickedness. God is still doing the same thing today. He builds up those who are in right standing with Him and he brings low those who get out of His will. God tell us in Psalm 105:15 Touch not my anointed and do My prophets no harm. This warning is very plain do not mess with men of God. We need to heed the warning.
These men of God (Jakes, Dollar, Long, Olsten) are in the positions they are in because of God. What most people don’t know is that they are not paid by member tithes. They make th[eir] money from their books and tapes (dosen’t that sound fimilar Baisden and Armstrong).
God tells us in Deuteronomy 8:18 that He is the one who gives us power to get wealth. We are not upset at men that run all these major corporations who are rich or all of the sport personalities that are rich. We are the ones who helped them get that way. So why is there so much anger toward pastors? Who said a man of God should not be rich? God didn’t nor did His Son Jesus.
Jesus tells us in John 10:10 (Amp.) that he came so we may enjoy life and have it in abundance(to the full, till it overflows). That does not sound to me that we are suppose[d]to be living in poverty. Jesus also says in Matthew 11:15 to a question if He was the Messiah, of the miracles he has done,but most importantly He said the Gospel is preached to the poor. He is telling you poverty is not your lot anymore, because of Him you can now live the good life.
Think people, what pastor can help you if their broke[?] How can a broke church help your community[?] Michael Baisden (along with callers) really took offense about Pastor Dollar being in a rap video. The title of the video is Welcome to Atlanta. He was in the video just standing in front of his church. Pastor Dollar is a prominent figure in Atlanta. When you think of all the prominent people in Atlanta you also think of Pastor Dollar. They made it sound like girls were shaking their booty on him and he was cussing.
What they don’t know is a lot of those rappers go to his church. What they don’t know is that some of those rappers have ask[ed] him to let them use his cars in their videos.
It is easy to be on the outside looking in, but what about the truth[?] When they were saying Pastor Dollar is all about the money I did not hear one mention of the di[e]sel trucks full of food and supplies that went to the people of hurricane Katrina. I didn’t hear one mention of all the homes he has built for families in povery stricken countries. I didn’t hear one mention of all the homes and cars he has brought for members of his church or all of the homes and cars he has paid off for his members.
All of the those Pastors they are targeting are doing the same thing. They have done so much for people that it is ridiculous. They are using a Law of the Bible (sowing and reaping) You get back what you give out.
Maybe you should ask all of those people if they have a problem with them being rich. Blacks hating on blacks when will it stop? Will we continue to be jealous of our brothers just because they are making it? Let God be the judge.
Think people, if these men of God were as wicked as some men want us to believe God would not let their ministries continue to thrive.
These pastors pale in comparion to the Reverands Al and Jesse.
This is where the outrage should be directed.
Brother in the Lord...the < P> is our friend...like manna from heaven...
it helps our eyes to not be in want (of blinking every other word),
It helps our eyelids to lay down on green mascara,
and leads us besides tear filled eye sockets,
it restores our vision.
It guides us in the potential of reading
Yeah though we read in the valley of no formatting
I will fear no blinking
for the < p> art with me
your “<” and your “P”
they comfort me
You prevent me form bumpng into the table in front of me (as the burning in my eyes subsides)
You prevent blindness from making me spill my beer.
Surley jpgs and mp3s will follow my all the day of my Freading,
And i will dwell in the FReading room all the days of my cubicle...forever and ever
...until I go blind, get fired, or the net goes down.
Brother in the Lord...the < P> is our friend...like manna from heaven...
it helps our eyes to not be in want (of blinking every other word),
It helps our eyelids to lay down on green mascara,
and leads us besides tear filled eye sockets,
it restores our vision.
It guides us in the potential of reading
Yeah though we read in the valley of no formatting
I will fear no blinking
for the < p> art with me
your “<” and your “P”
they comfort me
You prevent me form bumpng into the table in front of me (as the burning in my eyes subsides)
You prevent blindness from making me spill my beer.
Surley jpgs and mp3s will follow my all the day of my Freading,
And i will dwell in the FReading room all the days of my cubicle...forever and ever
...until I go blind, get fired, or the net goes down.
Please learn to format...
‘When will we stop the hate and just learn to love our brother?’
Sometime after the muggings, drive by shootings, armed robberies end is my guess......
How much money has Larry Flynt made?
Yes!
Absolutely!
Remember how many bad Judges God let rule over His people?
Remember how many bad Pharisees God let rule over them?
Remember how many Tammy and Jim Bakers, Jim Jones, Jehovah's witness teachers, Paul Crouch, Benny Hinn, benny Hill, a bottle of bennys...wanna hear more names?...
...want me to continue?
I don’t know about Creflo Dollar (though the name certainly has me HIGHLY suspicious already), but that Joey Olstien has no scriptural basis for his brand of feelgoodism. 29.5 minutes of heal-thy-self-with-good-thoughts-because-youre-worth-it-and-just-need-to-love-yourself-some-more! and .5 minutes of “Oh...and God loves you too!” That is a false gospel Sir!
Jesus said; “If anyone wants to be My disciple, he must
DENY HIMSELF
PICK UP HIS CROSS
and FOLLOW ME”
Olstien preaches
love thyself as exalted
build self worth
..oh...and God loves you too.
The kingdom of God has no room for SELF.
But the good news about your post is that your conscience seems to be pricked. That is the work of the Holy Spirit sir! And He just might be telling you to grab the remote, push the power button and get out of your house this Sunday to a real church where the Word is taught and where you can find a fellowship of believers. Where you can love and be loved.
Church TV is NEVER gonna be a substitute!
Welcome to FR.......and God Bless America!!!! ;-)
Bush must be in very good standing with God, after all he was elected President....twice!
Wow! It is AMAZING the emotional baggage one brings to an issue. Can we JUST look at the facts? Do you truly believe that criticizing a Black Preacher is taboo? Are you saying they are above approach? Is their race somehow a shield against disagreement? Of course not, you don’t actually think that, but you are being overly protective for a reason that you think is valid: “Blacks should stick together”. You are right, we should. But that is when being attacked. It does NOT mean that when we are “fleecing” each other (or perceived to be) that no one can call us on it. Here is the real situation: Black preachers are making a lot of money essential promising that God will bless you if you give into their ministry. This is the same promise made by Reverend Ike back in the 60’s. At the time it was mostly rejected by the church, but recently with a few new twists, the promise is back in vogue. As proof, these preachers show that God is blessing them BECAUSE they give tithes and always have. If you think about it in the cold light of day, that would mean that the 72 year old woman who has been giving her tithes since before this preacher was born has somehow gotten it wrong. Certainly she has been blessed, but somehow her blessing came in the form of a 4% raise in her social security benefits, but this young preacher has been blessed by God with a 1300% raise in salary compared to his income when he has a mailman. I can’t explain it either but I am certain that it is NOT GOD deciding that one tithe paying Christian gets a little extra help with her light bill and another tithe paying Christian gets to go to the Greek islands twice a year. Not God. That decision is being made somewhere else, on some other level. Perhaps in the board of directors meeting at the church in question. You state in your opinion that “What most people don’t know is that they are not paid by member tithes. They make there (sic) money from their books and tapes”. Here again, facts are being left out. Few people can afford to print a thousand CD’s or books and then set up a distribution system to sell them without some assistance. How does a preacher sell his books? It could be done simply by paying a self-publisher and setting up your website. Of course that would have to be a personal expense on the part of the preacher. He would not be able to charge that to the church expense account. That would actually be illegal. Even secular businessmen know that you can’t do that without serious taxes and penalties and even jail time...ask Leona Hemsley. Another way to do it, would be to let the church publish the book, print and distribute it and keep the benefits. Of course, if the church paid the “author” royalties, that could be viewed as “self-dealing” a very real and illegal practice which could cause a non-profit organization to lose its tax exempt status. Of course these are facts and information available to anyone who wanted to do research on the allegations being made against our Black preachers. But as long as you continue to react emotionally to “attacks” against the sacred, infallible pastor we will always be stuck in the 60’s with our pie-in-the-sky mentality. As a Christian myself, whose father and grandfather were pastors, I have NO problem with any pastor making a living and even being wealthy. However, like any business, it is possible to build wealth unethically and immorally. Do yourself a favor, look at what people are saying...see IF it really has any validity. Wouldn’t it be great if you could actually prove that none of the allegations were true instead of arguing that they shouldn’t even be brought up?
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