I’ve seen a few phenomenal clips from this show and it seems that the writers (and the actors) are simply brilliant.
satan
Satan Hates Metro South Church
A Detroit, Michigan church has begun using Satan’s name to promote their church. Metro South Church is trying to get folks to come to their Sunday services by using signs, signed by Satan, that say bad things about the church.
Adam Dorband, the youth pastor at the church said this.
The technique is like all these signs that say they’re from Satan, but really we think like Satan is probably against what we are doing because God is doing some really big, awesome things in our church every week. Hundreds of peoples lives are getting impacted and changed.
[…]
[Jesus] wants us to be creative and he wants us to… use whatever it takes to reach people.
The reaction has been mixed, according to Pastor Jeremy Schossau.
A little bit of good, little bit of bad, but overall there’s been a lot of reaction. I guess that’s sort of the point of marketing, isn’t it?
It’s an interesting approach, to be sure. Evidently, it’s offended some folks while others think it’s clever, but it’s gotten them a lot of attention and that’s what advertising is all about… mostly.
Referring to the signs, Pastor Schossau added…
We’re sorry if you’re offended by them. That’s not our point. We don’t mean to… shock anybody or make anybody mad. We thought it was clever. We thought it was whimsical. We didn’t mean… to get anybody upset.
It seems someone disingenuous to say that they didn’t mean to get anybody upset or shock anyone. The effectiveness of the campaign is almost purely based on its shock aspect. I think it can safely be categorized as “clever” but “whimsical” is a stretch.
Atheists probably find it fairly amusing, however. As one commenter stated…
“You can always depend on Satan to get something done, apparently.”
Tibetan Demons and Dead Authors
The most recent podcast from my favorite right-wing, fundamentalist, conspiracy theorist Brannon Howse is a shining example of the effects of unrestrained ingestion of a toxic mish-mash containing equal parts religion, politics, and crazy.
The topic?
“The Spiritual Battle of Alice Bailey’s New Age Movement and its influence on America, the United Nations and its New World Order.”
Alice Bailey (1880-1949) is the author of New Age “woo” books such as A Treatise on White Magic or The Way of the Disciple, Rays and Initiations: A Treatise on the Seven Rays, The Consciousness of the Atom, and Soul and Its Mechanism. The Amazon description of Soul and Its Mechanism seems to be a good general example of her writing.
Here’s Howse’s take on her and her connection with Satan and what’s happening in the United States right now (emphasis mine).
Alice Bailey wrote twenty-four books that total thousands of pages. Bailey claimed to have written these books while under the guidance of a spirit guide she called Djwhal Klul or the Tibetan. Clearly Bailey was communicating with a demon which is strictly forbidden in God’s Word. It is quite clear that Satan and his army of demons have used the writings and worldview of Alice Bailey to grow their spiritual lies and to lay the foundation for the acceptance of a one-world government, one-world religion and one-world economy that will be led by Satan’s one-world leader the Antichrist. Are you coming to the clear and undeniable reality that what is happing in America and the world right now, is a spiritual battle and while in the coming months and years Satan will appear to have won, rest assured he will be defeated and God’s Kingdom will be triumphant and of God’s kingdom there shall be no end.
Wow.
Evidently, in Howse’s world, Satan and his “army of demons” are acting in a way that is blatantly obvious… using the writings of an author who’s been dead for sixty years to infiltrate their way into all the governments and religions of the world in order to bring about Armageddon. But Howse has no fear, despite his dire words, because God will prevail… against dead authors and demons?
In Howse’s world of demons and devils, one-world governments, one-world religions, and one-world economies, and one-world leaders, there’s a hidden conspiracy around every corner and shadowy figures lurking in all the dark recesses on Earth just waiting to activate their secret agendas, seize power, and bring about the end of the world.
Even Alice Bailey, if she were alive, would probably raise an eyebrow at that.
Poor Ray Comfort
Anyone who’s seen Ray Comfort speak or has read anything he’s written knows pretty well that he’s a couple bananas short of a bunch. Aside from the mind-dizzying irrationality of his assertions, he moves firmly into the land of untruth when it comes to speaking about the Theory of Evolution. So far so, that according to Ray’s own preaching, he’s going to Hell.
You’ve heard his shtick. It’s the same one that Kirk Cameron uses. He’ll approach someone and ask him if he’s a good person. Then he’ll proceed to ask if the mark has ever lied, stolen, taken the Lord’s name in vain, or committed adultery (based on his biblical definition). Of course, then he’ll tell the mark that he’s a lying, blaspheming, adulterous thief and is going to Hell… unless… and then Ray gives the whole Jesus solution.
I recently watched a YouTube video of Ray doing some open-air preaching in what might be Huntington Beach (he preaches there a lot, evidently). After the regular bit mentioned above and some of his classic religion-based drivel, he starts talking about evolution and goes way off into the realm of grand liars.
Scary Church Signs
I try to take note of the church signs I see in my area and usually see the generic notifications of sermon times or guest speakers. A few churches, however, always try to have clever sayings out front, which is much more entertaining for me. One in particular seems to have some very clever ones and sometimes even makes me smile or chuckle.
Most of the more clever church signs are harmless puns, but every now and then, one makes me narrow my eyes and raise an eyebrow.
I saw this one yesterday:
Remember the banana. When he left the bunch, he got skinned.
It’s a clever play on words, indeed, but its whimsy hides one of the more sinister sides of religious belief… using fear as a tool to coerce obedience. Stay with the church or you’ll be doomed.
Another church sign read:
Try Jesus. If you don’t like him, Satan will take you back.
Clever. It’s also somewhat cute if you block out the image of burning in a pit of Satan-created fire for not liking Jesus.
Christianity tends to preach all about a just, merciful God and loving, forgiving Jesus. God’s love is immeasurable and glorious. Jesus is your loving and understanding savior. You’ll be swept up into glorious Heaven where paradise awaits you and you’ll be able to walk hand-in-hand with Jesus in eternal bliss.
All you have to do is believe what they tell you to believe.
Of course, if you refuse to accept Jesus as your savior and refuse to worship God in the way that is demanded, you’re going to be punished for all eternity in unspeakably torturous ways with much wailing and gnashing of teeth, doomed to spend an infinite amount of time surrounded by hellfire and brimstone and subjected to incomprehensible pain and agony.
But to avoid that horror, all you have to do is believe what they tell you to believe…
…regardless of whether it’s true or not.
There are FOUR lights! *
(* geeky Star Trek:TNG reference)