Being a Pastor is Big Business

Evangelist Franklin Graham: Net Worth $25 Million

How do you feel about pastors making so much money that some of them have accumulated wealth in the million of dollars?

Pastor Joyce Hutchison, from St. Louis has an estimated net worth of $8 million. Rick Warren of Orange County California Saddle Back Church has an estimated wealth of $25 million. Joel Osteen – Net Worth $40 Million.

Pastor Kenneth Max Copeland hails from Lubbock, Texas. He is the founder and owner of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, located on an estate of more than 1,500 acres, equipped with a church, a private airstrip, and a hangar for the ministry’s $17.5 million jet and other aircraft. A televangelist, he hosts a live television show called Kenneth Copeland and You. Pastor Copeland has seven ministry offices around the world to spread his beliefs through a variety of channels. Those channels include television program Believer’s Voice of Victory, radio broadcasts, a podcast, a magazine, a ton of books and various social media platforms, to name a few. His estimated wealth is $760 million.

Perhaps I am wrong but I always thought men and women of the cloth worked to better mankind. It appears being a pastor is just a business. Give me your money and you will be saved is just a sales pitch and millions of Americans and people around the world have bought into that pitch.

Qanon says nothing can stop what is coming – The Prophecies of Q

Most QAnon supporters say they believe “Q” is an anonymous government official sharing information about a secret battle between Trump and a powerful cabal of Democratic politicians, liberal celebrities and the “deep state.”

The conspiracy posts, first shared through the website 4chan in 2017, also hint at a much darker plot in which many of those figures control a worldwide child sex-trafficking ring.

“The basis of the QAnon theory is that a group of high-level officials close to Trump are leaking cryptic messages” about the secret conspiracy involving Democrats, the media and the “deep state,” View said. Believers view Trump “as savior of not just the country, but humankind,” and the person “who’s going to expose the Satan-loving deep state pedophiles once and for all,” he said.

“They are very worshipful of the current leader of the Republican Party,” who, View noted, “rose to political prominence on the back of ‘birtherism,'” the unfounded conspiracy theory that alleged that Obama was an illegitimate president because he was born in Kenya. Obama was born in Hawaii.

This article that appeared in the June 2020 addition of The Atlantic is all about the conspiracy theorists that are a part of American life. Longer than anything I would write for this blog but worth your time.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/qanon-nothing-can-stop-what-is-coming/610567/

What is Hanukkah?

To my Jewish friends. When the sun goes down today may you and your family feel the blessings of Hanukkah. If you are not Jewish maybe the following will help you understand what it is.

What is Hanukkah?
Hanukkah, which is Hebrew for “dedication,” is the Festival of Lights.

It commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian Greek army, and the subsequent miracle of rededicating the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and restoring its menorah, or lamp.

The miracle of Hanukkah is that only one vial of oil was found with just enough oil to illuminate the Temple lamp for one day, and yet it lasted for eight full days.

Is Judaism a religion or a nationality-or is it both?

This question is debated by both Jews and non-Jews. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. The last thing we need is the United States government defining any religion. In fact the first words of the first amendment to the constitution are “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

President Donald Trump reportedly plans to sign an executive order that would classify Judaism as a race or nationality instead of just a religion.

His action will put a target on every Jews in America. Hitler would be delighted.

Three administration officials told The New York Times that the order would threaten to withhold federal funding for colleges and universities that fail to combat discrimination on their campuses.

The loudest critics of the measure are Jews themselves, many of whom said that referring to Judaism as a nationality would only further fuel anti-Semitism.

The move appears to be targeting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or BDS, which encourages various forms of boycott against Israel for what it deems violations of international law. The group, which has become popular on college campuses, holds annual events like “Israeli Apartheid Week” to push for Palestinian rights.

Many American Jews are worried Trump’s reported decision to define Judaism as a nationality and not just a religion would do far more harm than good. I’m one of them.

I have known a few people who are converts to Judaism. One comes to mind who is proud of her Scottish heritage. Based upon her last name I suspect she converted when she married a Jew. I’m guessing she will resent this action.

Trump probably believes he will win more Jewish support in the November election by issuing this order. I doubt that will be the case.

I hope the ACLU files a suit against this action.

Teen party with Nazi salutes but the anti-Semitism is far more pervasive than those parties

A series of photos featuring a group of teenagers crowded around a swastika made of red plastic cups – laughing, toasting and Sieg Heiling over the Nazi symbol – is shaking swaths of predominantly white and affluent communities across Orange County, Calif., where at least some of the teens are enrolled in high school.

Freshman Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar is once again facing criticism and charges of anti-Semitism from her own party’s leadership for comments about the political influence of Israel. She is supported by another Muslim, Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.). Ocasio-Cortez together with fellow Democrats Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, have called themselves a “squad” in social media posts and have publicly come to each other’s defense.

Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren each came to the defense of Rep. Ilhan Omar on Wednesday for remarks that critics have called anti-Semitic.

Meghan McCain gets emotional on ‘The View’ “With the rise of anti-Semitism in this country, is it more important to defend party politics, or is it more important to defend anti-Semitism?” she asked the rest of the panel, referring to Omar, a Democrat.

From USA Today “The now trendy Democratic Socialists of America have even called for Israel to be eliminated.”

Hate is in the air!

Jewish people are major contributors to the Democratic Party but maybe not any more.

April Fool’s Day and Biblical Nonsense

Is it a coincidence that April Fool’s Day and Easter are on the same day or nearly the same day every year?

Religion is all about faith. Most people have surrendered to believing the stories and tales and instructions described in the Bible, the Koran, the Torah, the Vedas, or other holy scripture.

Many of you reading this posting may call me an atheist or perhaps an agnostic.

In my view it is all well-meaning stories and guiding ideas that will take us to heaven. Heaven is an imaginary place where we will live forever. That is our dream because most of us cannot accept the reality that life is not infinite and we will die.

The two most outrageous stories that I am aware of is that 1) the Red Sea opened so that the escaping Jews could leave Egypt. Then the sea returned killing Egyptian soldiers that were chasing the Jews. 2) A man named Jesus died and then came back to life. In both instances Christians and Jews believe these stories.

It is written in a book so it must be true.

So the Jews wandered in the desert for 40 years before arriving in Canaan. If one looks at a map of the region between Egypt and Israel, the question of why it took 40 years to travel a straight-line distance of only about 240 miles.

Most Christians believe Jesus to be the Son of God and the awaited Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament. The evidence is lacking but the people dreamed of someone coming to promise them a place that they will live forever. Jews as well as Christians want to believe they will live forever even if their bodies fail. To this day religious Jews believe the Messiah is still to come.

The other fairy tales are just as ridiculous.

Noah’s Ark is the vessel in the Genesis flood narrative (Genesis chapters 6–9) by which God spares Noah, his family, and a remnant of all the world’s animals from a world-engulfing flood. According to Genesis, God gave Noah instructions for building the ark Seven days before the deluge. God told Noah to enter the ark with his household and the animals. The story goes on to describe the ark being afloat for 150 days and then coming to rest on the Mountains of Ararat and the subsequent receding of the waters. Searches for Noah’s Ark have been made from at least the time of Eusebius (c. 275–339 CE) to the present day. There is no scientific evidence of a global flood, and despite many expeditions, no evidence of the ark has been found.

Jews celebrate Hanukkah every year (usually occurring near the end of November to the end of December). The eight-day celebration commemorates the rededication during the second century B.C. of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, where according to legend Jews had risen up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors. There was always to be an eternal light in the Temple but the Greeks had contaminated the oil for the light. One jar of oil that could last for only one day burned for eight days.

Oh and then there was God Tests Abraham’s Faith. When Isaac (son Abraham) had grown older, Jehovah tested Abraham’s faith. He called: ‘Abraham!’ And Abraham answered: ‘Here I am!’ Then God said: ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, and go to a mountain that I will show you. There kill your son and offer him up as a sacrifice.’ Then at the last minute God sends an angel to tell Abraham you have shown your faith. Don’t kill your son but sacrifice a sheep from the nearby bushes.

And finally God created heaven and earth in six days and rested on the seventh. How long is a day? This was a story to explain the world to children.

April Fool! It is all a fairly-tale.

Revered Reverend Billy Graham

Billy Graham, revered by the evangelicals and Christian conservatives, has died at 99.

He was the most dominant American pastor of the second half of the 20th century and lifted evangelism into the religious mainstream. He also was more than an anti-Semite. He appeared to despise those of us who are not Protestant and do not follow his beliefs.

Reported in Wikipedia: Graham was a registered member of the Democratic Party. In 1960 he was opposed to the candidacy of John F. Kennedy because as a Catholic he was bound to follow the Pope. Graham worked “behind the scenes” to encourage influential Protestant ministers to speak out against him.

Reported in Wikipedia: Graham held anti-gay views. He believed that AIDS was a “judgement from God” and he was opposed to same-sex marriage.

In a conversation with President Nixon, the evangelist complained about what he saw as Jewish domination of the news media. The conversation was among 500 hours of Nixon tapes released last week by the National Archives. Most were recorded from January to June 1972.

The networks will all broadcast the Billy Graham funeral. I will be reading or watching Vertigo starring staring James Stewart.

Who Is Doug Jones, Newly Elected Alabama Senator?

My take on the Jones versus Moore election is at the end of this post.

After earning his law degree in 1979, Jones worked as staff counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee for Alabama Senator Howell Heflin. He then worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in the early 1980s, before resigning to work in private practice. In 1997, Bill Clinton named Jones U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. Jones left office in 2001, returning to private practice. In 2013, he co-founded his own firm, Jones & Hawley.

Jones is perhaps best known for having successfully prosecuted members of the Ku Klux Klan over the 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four African-American girls. As a former federal prosecutor, the 63-year-old had never before run for office prior to his Senate bid.

Here is the time line for the prosecution of those responsible for the bombing.

September 15, 1963 – Four girls are killed and 14 injured in a bomb blast at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.
– Riots break out, and two African-American boys, Virgil Ware, 13, and Johnny Robinson, 16, are also killed. In all, at least 20 people are injured from the initial bombing and the ensuing riots.
– Alabama Governor George Wallace sends 500 National Guardsmen and 300 state troopers to the city. The next day, they are joined by 500 police officers and 150 sheriffs’ deputies.
September 16, 1963 – President John F. Kennedy responds by saying, “If these cruel and tragic events can only awaken that city and state – if they can only awaken this entire nation to a realization of the folly of racial injustice and hatred and violence, then it is not too late for all concerned to unite in steps toward peaceful progress before more lives are lost.”
September 16, 1963 – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holds a press conference in Birmingham, saying that the US Army “ought to come to Birmingham and take over this city and run it.”
1965 – Suspects emerge: Bobby Frank Cherry, Thomas Blanton, Robert Chambliss and Herman Frank Cash, all Ku Klux Klan members. Witnesses are reluctant to talk and physical evidence is lacking, so charges are not filed.
1976 – Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley reopens the case.
September 26, 1977 – Robert Chambliss, 73, a retired auto mechanic and former Ku Klux Klan member, is indicted by a Jefferson County grand jury on four counts of first-degree murder.
November 15, 1977 – On the second day of the trial, Chambliss’s niece, Elizabeth Cobb, testifies that before the bombing, Chambliss confided to her that he had “enough stuff put away to flatten half of Birmingham.”
November 18, 1977 – Chambliss is convicted of first-degree murder in connection with the bombing and sentenced to life imprisonment.
1985 – Chambliss dies in prison.
1994 – Herman Frank Cash dies without being charged in the bombing.
July 1997 – The case is reopened by the FBI, citing new evidence.
May 16, 2000 – A grand jury in Alabama indicts former Klansmen Bobby Frank Cherry and Thomas Blanton with eight counts each of first-degree murder – four counts of intentional murder and four of murder with universal malice.
May 1, 2001 – Thomas Blanton is found guilty of first-degree murder and is sentenced to four life terms.
May 22, 2002 – Bobby Frank Cherry is found guilty and given a sentence of four life terms.
November 8, 2004 – Cherry dies in prison.
February 20, 2006 – The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church is declared a national historic landmark.
September 12, 2013 – Fifty years after the bombing, all four girls who died are awarded Congressional Gold Medals.
September 14, 2013 – A bronze and steel statue of the four girls is unveiled. It is located at Kelly Ingram Park, on the corner of Sixteenth Street North and Sixth Avenue North.
August 3, 2016 – Thomas Blanton, the last living convicted bomber, is denied parole. Blanton, 86, had asked the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles to let him die as a free man. He won’t be eligible for parole again until 2021.

Roy Moore stood before his supporters refusing to concede his loss to Doug Jones. Among his words were “Wait on God, and let this process play out,” Moore said. “It is not over.” Perhaps God has interceded to say the election of Doug Jones is a good thing.

Rivlin

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin came to the Jewish Federations’ General Assembly in Los Angeles to plead for Jewish unity. He harped on Israel’s growth, its innovations, and its place as a home for all Jews. Emphasising that we can do everything better if we do it together.

President Rivlin lamented the Western Wall’s transformation into “a symbol of division and disagreement” between Israel and the Diaspora, and expressed hope that understandings would soon be reached on egalitarian prayer at the holy site.

For those of you who have not been following the issue, the question is about prayers at the Western (or wailing) Wall in Jerusalem. Women are kept separate from men and they cannot pray together. The issue has become a symbol of the difference in religious beliefs of Israelis versus most Jews spread throughout the world (Diaspora).

The problem, as I see it, is that Israel is controlled by the ultra-orthodox who are a political party. Apparently it is a party that has enough voters that can sway the governing of their country. Of course, as in any democratic country, they are free to choose the kind of society they live in. It just is not the kind social order that most American and Canadian Jews want.

North American Jews believe in a social order that is an anathema to the religious people of Israel.

Reuven Rivlin’s purpose in making this speech was his plea for North American Jewish support. It is all about money and political support. After all Israel does not have many friends. The loss of North American Jews would be significant.

Rivlin’s plea did not come with any offers of inclusion of North American Jews. Both American and Canadian Jews are obviously happy with their lives. Is there a reason North American Jews should treat Israel any differently than Americans of Italian decent should treat Italy or those of Irish decent should view Ireland?

As a child I accompanied my grandmother to Saturday morning services. I was either eight or nine years old. To my dismay we sat on a mezzanine. Women were required to sit separately from the men and were excluded from the ceremony. Even at that age I concluded that orthodox Judaism was living in a medieval past. Sorry Grandma.