Are people paying attention to the so called 'Jesus' chosen men and women, calling themselves preachers, pastors, bishops, elders, etc, and generally proclaiming to be religious leaders. These are the self appointed religious fanatics leading huge congregations of people in their 'Tax Exempt' sanctuaries so termed Mega-Churches. Names like: Benny Hinn, Paula White, Eddie L. Long, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, Gary Hawkins, Kenneth Copeland, and many more. These preachers exude obvious fakery, and are clearly religious impostors, and act with glaringly impunity beyond comprehension. I fail to understand what they use to capture the minds and thoughts of massive numbers of people into their large congregations. I know I am a spiritual being to some extent, and I am generous in according the same status to other people, but I am still in search of a plausible explanation for the blinding fanatical believe and total surrender minds, bodies and souls, that these large congregations bestow on these self proclaimed preachers.
A current case in point and in the news, bishop Eddie L. Long, he gets outed for his homo-sexual encounters with young men that he [pastor] had groomed since they were teenagers in his mega-church for years. Most of these young men were growing up with their single mothers who were member of the congregation. Subsequently, it has been reported that, Eddie Long is now implicated in mortgage scam perpetrated on some of the congregation, the same people that believe the pastor for issues. I am hoping that a pedophile and a common criminal like Mr. Eddie long, gets a date with a public courtroom, for him to answer for his crimes. It has been reported that an out of court settlement is being worked on by Mr. Long, his church and the young men who had been abused and violated for years. I believe the reader and I would say, of course, that is what happens when people of status violate the law and commit crimes!
We all read about these preachers and their indiscretions, and in some cases crimes, being treated as SIN instead of violations of law. Some of remember Jimmy Lee Swaggart shedding tears and proclaiming his sinful ways after being arrested for solicitation of prostitutes, a preacher who had vehemently persecuted prostitutes and their patrons in his pulpit for years, and it turns out he was a major patron of what he condemns. Bishop Eddie Long was known to have persecuted gays and the gay lifestyle and participated in marches condemning gay rights, and we now know he is a gay man and hypocrite of tremendous proportions, and most likely a calculated crafty pedophile. I wonder if Eddie Long's wife knew of any of these personalities and him living a lie. Because, I tend to disbelieve spouses that claim not to have known their partners' behavior when everyone else around them knew, but Mrs. Eddie Long may have to answer to that someday.
What is the attraction, the draw, the hook, the reason, the justification and/or explanation, that entices the seemingly unlimited number of people, that become the avowed congregations with such naive commitment to these so called religious figures and personalities, that support their blatant betrayal of religious faith as practiced by many, so loyal to repeated abusive practices but almost guaranteed acceptance to fictitious religious proclamations? Who is this JESUS the preachers proclaim to follow and worship, who [Jesus] for all intents and purposes is proclaimed to, approve, sanction, justify, guide, protect these actions and then approves the prize of forgiveness to be bestowed on these crooks! Wow!! From my point of view, these preachers should be behind bars serving time for extortion, stealing and much more. These preacher are perpetrating massive PONZI schemes, just like Mr. Bernie Madoff, and I think a justice department investigation might be needed!!
There are lots of questions I love to ask these preachers and their fervent followers, but I will love to read some comments from readers of this blog, before I add more postings. In subsequent posts, I will attempt to expose some of the classic tricks of interpretation utilized by these preachers, but I hope gullible but genuine seekers of religious inspiration will follow this blog and provide questions and examples of what I write about, in their comments.
