Is she for real?

[Teh Wiccan]

I was flipping through channels the other day and stopped on televangelist Joyce Meyers. While I don't necessarily like televangelists and take everything they say with a grain of salt, I occasionally watch her because sometimes I find her speeches entertaining.
Anyways...
She was talking about a friend of hers who had formerly been practicing witchcraft (general term, she didn't mention Wicca or any specific witchcraft), and was rather "high up" in the ranks, who told her that they directed others - and were directed - to attend church services on Sundays and while they were there, try to disrupt the service as much as possible, as well as place curses on the church goers.
Right there I stopped listening and changed the channel.
Thought: (a really hard slap, mind you) Is she serious? Call me stupid, call me misled, call me weak in faith, call me on falling to the lure of Satan, whathaveyou...but I find that claim she made quite disturbing (not for the faith, but for what it seems to be : a load of fear and ignorance inducing - dare I say- garbage), and in large, quite ludicrous. I find it hard to believe that jibberish, amongst everything else (she's well documented, apparently, for being rather inaccurate to the faith).

Any thoughts?

You are correct, it most likely is garbage. Unfortunately many writers/televangelists get a quick dollar off of gullible people talking about that or something similar.

 

[Nathan David]

Rule #1: Televangelists lie.

 

[Archivist]

I remember back when Oral Roberts said that God was going to call him home unless he raised a certain amount of money. These people are evil.

And I agree with what was said earlier, Wiccans wouldn't do something of this sort.

 

[ReUsAbLePhEoNiX]

No, will you tell me about it?

http://www.weirdcrap.com/recreational/bobfiles.htm

heres all the dirt on bob larson.....both those guys were at one time my heros.

the Mike Warnke story is a good read too, what a interesting personallity.
http://www.cornerstonemag.com/features/iss098/warnke_index.htm

I saw both these guys in person...Bob Larson I saw on Halloween Day about 10 years ago...that one was fun!

 

[Anovah]

I was flipping through channels the other day and stopped on televangelist Joyce Meyers. While I don't necessarily like televangelists and take everything they say with a grain of salt, I occasionally watch her because sometimes I find her speeches entertaining.
Anyways...
She was talking about a friend of hers who had formerly been practicing witchcraft (general term, she didn't mention Wicca or any specific witchcraft), and was rather "high up" in the ranks, who told her that they directed others - and were directed - to attend church services on Sundays and while they were there, try to disrupt the service as much as possible, as well as place curses on the church goers.
Right there I stopped listening and changed the channel.
Thought: (a really hard slap, mind you) Is she serious? Call me stupid, call me misled, call me weak in faith, call me on falling to the lure of Satan, whathaveyou...but I find that claim she made quite disturbing (not for the faith, but for what it seems to be : a load of fear and ignorance inducing - dare I say- garbage), and in large, quite ludicrous. I find it hard to believe that jibberish, amongst everything else (she's well documented, apparently, for being rather inaccurate to the faith).

Any thoughts?

I think this is to reinforce the "Us vs. Them" mentality. It's a generalization wrapped in a vague story. But mostly it sounds paranoid.

 

[12volt_man]

No, will you tell me about it?

There was a swarm of Satanism hype, the biggest of which was from Mike Warnke and his book, The Satan Seller.

He went out for years spinning tales of his being a Satanist high priest, notorious drug dealer, pimp, combat decorated medic (he actually was a Marine Corps medic but the closest he got to combat was giving unlucky Jarheads shots for the clap in Subic Bay). All of this was detailed in the book.
This and ripping off Bill Cosby's comedy material made him a legend in Christian circles.

The only problem is that every word in his autobiography and the testimony he shared every night for almost twenty years was a lie.

You can read more about thishere.

Then, there was Bob Larson. Jeez, where do you even start with this guy? He's been pushing Satanism on his radio show, in books, conferences, ets for years. Like Warnke, he's also bogus. It has been demonstrated that the callers to his show, whom he claims to be demon possessed and then are dramatically "delivered" for the audience, are fakes. That is, show employees and loyalists pretendeing to be these people.

Not surprisingly, such deliverances are followed up by pleas for cash.

There were dozens of others. From Warnke to Neil Anderon, it seems like everybody had a book out telling you how to beware of Satan and Satanists and they were all virtually the same word for word. There would be wild accusations of curses and whatnot and Neil Anderson even claimed to know of a Satanic cult that practiced ritual sexual abuse on children.

Of course, when he was asked why he wouldn't come forward to the police and tell them about this in order to protect the children, his claims fell silent.

 

[towodi]

I remember back when Oral Roberts said that God was going to call him home unless he raised a certain amount of money. These people are evil.

Oooh, I remember hearing about that too.

And of course, who can forget the classic Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson spiel on the events of 9/11? They blamed everyone BUT the terrorists who flew the airplanes into the towers. Every time I see either of them on tv, I feel sick to my stomach

 

[transientlife]

I second that one, towodi. Pat Robertson and his cohorts are a joke, as far as I'm concerned.
It makes me feel sick that some people's only exposure to Christianity is through them, and their prejudices, egotism, and scams.

 

[12volt_man]

Oooh, I remember hearing about that too.

And of course, who can forget the classic Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson spiel on the events of 9/11? They blamed everyone BUT the terrorists who flew the airplanes into the towers. Every time I see either of them on tv, I feel sick to my stomach

In all fairness to Falwell, it was Robertson who said that it was the fault of gays Falwell was just there when he said it.

Jerry Falwell also apologized for his role in it and denounced Robertson's words almost immediately.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

Gee..

I heard Joyce was on the grassy knoll in Dallas when Kennedy was shot. And Pat Robertson shot a stinger missile at the Challenger Space Shuttle.

Why don't you guys tell us how you really feel about TV evangelists?

Stop holding back!

(Sounds like a mugging going on here. )

Peace
Dids

 

[Mechanical Bliss]

In all fairness to Falwell, it was Robertson who said that it was the fault of gays Falwell was just there when he said it.

Jerry Falwell also apologized for his role in it and denounced Robertson's words almost immediately.

Actually it was the other way around. Falwell said it, Robertson completely, wholeheartedly agreed, so he might as well have said it as well. And Falwell's apology was somewhat vague and quite obviously insincere given what he actually said and how he said it. If his comments did not cause the level of outrage that they did, I have no reason to believe he would have apologized. He was just trying to save what little reputation he has left because of how his comments affected his public image. If he hadn't meant what he said about 9/11, he wouldn't have said it. If Robertson didn't agree, he shouldn't have said that he completely did.

 

[BarbB]

I was flipping through channels the other day and stopped on televangelist Joyce Meyers. While I don't necessarily like televangelists and take everything they say with a grain of salt, I occasionally watch her because sometimes I find her speeches entertaining.
Anyways...
She was talking about a friend of hers who had formerly been practicing witchcraft (general term, she didn't mention Wicca or any specific witchcraft), and was rather "high up" in the ranks, who told her that they directed others - and were directed - to attend church services on Sundays and while they were there, try to disrupt the service as much as possible, as well as place curses on the church goers. ...

Any thoughts?

I'm responding now, before I read the rest of the thread. I don't know the truth of this practice, but I do know that my church begins each service with a prayer that anything not of God be bound and removed from the church and it's buildings and grounds. The one time this prayer was NOT prayed, the service was a mess - all kinds of distractions, interruptions, etc. They never missed the prayer again! Believe what you will, but I also pray this when I am going to be in the company of contentious people, including some of my family. And praying it does remove the discord!

Now, I'll read back through the thread! Thanks for allowing this interruption!

 

[BarbB]

Gee, now that I have read the thread, I have to agree with didy - it's just another trash the televangelists thread.

You know that we Christians should have the gift of discernment - maybe it's time we used it!

 

[transientlife]

Actually, it wasn't intended to be a "trash the evangelist" thread, honestly!
But like some other topics on here, everyone seems to have an opinion and things start rolling!

 

[towodi]

Actually it was the other way around. Falwell said it, Robertson completely, wholeheartedly agreed, so he might as well have said it as well.

That is the truth. Here's the quotes I'm talking about:

Falwell said, "The ACLU has got to take a lot of blame for this. And I know I'll hear from them for this, but throwing God...successfully with the help of the federal court system...throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools, the abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked and when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad...I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who try to secularize America...I point the thing in their face and say you helped this happen."

Robertson said, "I totally concur, and the problem is we've adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government, and so we're responsible as a free society for what the top people do, and the top people, of course, is the court system."

So, obviously, both supported what Jerry said, and both apologized only because they were heavily criticized for what they said. If there hadn't been such an uproar, I'm sure they would have stuck by their story. Their apologies were insincere.

Source for quotes: http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/f/falwell-robertson-wtc.htm

 

[Judephraim]

Hehe, may I tell a history? A friend of mine was once working on a charity movement, distribuiting baby clothes and food to poor soon-to-be-mothers. Such operation was held on a volunteer garage. A poor woman get to the gate and asked for some clothes and food.
"Sure, come in." said my friend.
"I can't", she replied, "my pastor said you people are from the devil" (everybody on that charity work were Christian Spiritists)
Needless to say, everybody was pretty amused, and almost couldn't hide the laughing. The lady received the goods, anyway (outside the gates). Well, she managed to be very pratical: received what is good for her, and obbeyed the pastor, at the same time. Smarty girl.

But, point is, these things happen. One of the ways to assure one remains in some faith is to give the person no options: outside here, "there are dragons". At some point, this approach can be usefull - when a person is not used to pray, or to have a closer relationship with God, it can be an incentive for this connection with the Higher to become an habit.
But, used too much, it destroys one faith credibility, can lead to fanatism and, from there to violence, is a small step.

It's sad those things happen, but they happen.

Cool story,I used to help a charity out in a town I lived in Texas.I would give them money or food but they weren't my religion but they were the only soup kitchen in town.

One day me and my wife broke up and I went to this mission I had helped.I had a job but no place to live.I wanted to stay for a few days so I wouldn't lose my job.It was Sat and I paid for everyones dinner that night.The next day they demanded I go to their church.But I won't go to church on Sundays and I'm not of the Christian religion.They kicked me off the property immediatly when they found out I wouldn't attend.

My Mom is a christian and she watches Joyce Meyrer.When I hear her voice I want to rip my skin off.

 

[ONE WHO REMAINS]

Yeah the "preachers" on TV be weary about. They say what will get money sent in to "help" those who need it. I think the punishment of those who use the bible for personal gain, wow, will be way worse than most things.

 

[towodi]

You know that we Christians should have the gift of discernment - maybe it's time we used it!

I'm not a Christian, but I can surely discern that most televangelists only have one goal - more money for themselves.