(MN: The next one is scheduled for 9 February 2008 )

Most Saturdays, starting at 6:00 pm Eastern time, the folks who brought you the Stand Up Conference in New Jersey provide a phone conference connection to allow at least 150 callers to participate.

The last one, last Saturday, covered a number of topics including Christians suing Christians and Divorce. The discussion was lively, far ranging, and, I believe, helpful in fleshing out a Biblical perspective on the issues.

The phone conference begins at 6:00 pm on Saturday. If you want to join the fray (or just sit and listen to the rest of the talkers, call this number and type in the access code.

Telephone number to link to the conference (605) 475-4333
Access code: 339865# (please hit the pound key after entering the code)

It’s free. That’s right - Free. You can join in when you want, leave when you wish, speak if you want or lurk in real-time. And it doesn’t cost you anything, not even your secret identity.

Christian Living | 22 Comments »

Generally, I’m not at all pleased to see the public and spectacular moral failing of anyone, even the worst of the pimps. But sometimes the magnitude of the offenses of the perpetrator is so grievous and is so illustrative of the general fallacies assumed in the Anointed Mand of Gawd/Five Fold Ministry/Apostolic authority idiocies.

This is Earl Paulk, the anointed mand of Gawd, prophet, apostle, and all around spiritual authority down at Cobb County in Georgia.

This is Earl Paul, father of his own nephew, serial adulterer, perjurer, and accused pedophile.

For the last thirty years this bozo and his cohorts have been telling you that they are God’s voice here on Earth. They have claimed to be able to see into the heavenlies, to discern the will of God in YOUR lives. They have so intruded in people’s lives that the members of the church (The Cathedral of the Holy Spirit and other such high sounding names as they have been forced to change it to) have been reduced to what really are mind-numbed spiritual robots.

When he was standing up on the stage, supposedly prophesying some blathering truth into some true believer’s life, there is the distinct possibility that he had just finished hooking up with one of the more gullible church ladies.

Do you understand what these wolves depend on? They depend on your willingness to use something other than the Word of God for your guidance. They depend on your willingness to trust them to give you the truths to live your lives by. They depend on your willingness to be impressed by their supposed abilities to tap into the mind of God.

I read one of Earl’s books. It was entitled “Satan Unmasked.” And it was filled with the hyper-Pentecostal, experience-based teachings about Jesus Christ, His return, and the need for some kind of spiritual super-beings to help God form the Body of Christ into what it needs to be before Jesus Christ could return. I was so impressed with the magnitude of the man’s error that I kept the book. Occasionally I take a look at the book again and review the notes I made in the margins. It was a pile of crap the first time I read it (about 15 years ago) and it’s a pile of crap now. The only difference is that the author has been shown to be a pile of crap as well.

Can the man be forgiven for what he has done? Certainly. Can the people he has ruined recover? Through the grace of God, yes. Should this man have ever been trusted with the trash he was talking? No. And remember, this is one of the perps who promoted such luminaries as Juanita Bynum.

While not all of the hyper-Pentecostals are sexual predators like this fellow, their teachings and their insistence that the follower not think, make the victims of such activities completely vulnerable. How else could the “bishop” convince a member of the choir that it was God’s will for her to meet his sexual needs? These people promote a view of spirituality that not only hobbles the follower and seriously cripples them mentally; it brings shame to the name of Christ. These people work for their own glory (and fun), not for Christ’s. They profane the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ before a world that is more than willing to write Christ off as a waste of time.

If men like these refuse to turn from the lies and extra-biblical teachings they insist on foisting on naïve believers, they should be driven from the Church by the more responsible believes. And sometimes that means that you, the relatives of those believers have got to be willing to stand up and speak out against the heresies and appeals to the flesh these men and women promote.

Pulpit Pimps | 129 Comments »

(MN: Special Note - The next conference call will be held on 9 February, not this coming Saturday )

I like to use illustrations in the stuff I do, both here on the site and in teaching in general. I think I have an illustration that may help. I don’t wish to embarrass the person who wrote in (in fact I have already forgotten his or her name), but the request they made was too great an opportunity to make a point to let it pass unnoticed.

I am offering a book - for free. So far I have gotten 53 requests for the book. Each book costs me $4.00. Shipping is $2.07 for each book. That’s $6.07 per book. Or, for you Pentecostals out there, that’s $303.50 for the whole batch. And this isn’t counting the cost of shipping to get the books from 9Marks to my house.

I got a request that asked me to not only send a book to the requesting individual, but to please send one to a friend of their’s. At first, I considered it, not wanting to pay too much attention to the cost. But as I thought about it, I decided not to send the book out to the reader’s friend.

Do any of you know why I decided not to send the book to the reader’s friend?

Sorry, you took too long to answer.

One of the things I am trying to promote is the idea of YOU taking responsibility for your training, your decisions, and your work in the Kingdom. I urge you to walk away from the pimps who would attempt to convince you that they are the very voice of God, giving you direction in your life. I argue, cajole, jump up and down, holler, and reason in order to get you to see that you can and should do those things God would have us to do in order to promote the Kingdom of God. And sometimes (maybe even all the time) the work is going to require sacrifice. As Robert Heinlein, one of my favorite authors has pointed out: “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” Everything costs someone something.

What do you suppose that person who wants to get the book into the hands of a friend should do? That’s right!!! That person should go buy one and…now watch this, I know it’s not always something we think about…and GIVE it to their friend. Yes, the person who asked for a second book should be willing to make the sacrifice (about $8 if they order in through Amazon.com) and have the book delivered to their friend’s house.

If, after you read this book, you are as sure as I am that it is on the mark, and you want to have someone else read it, BUY A COPY FOR THEM, give it to them and have them read it.

If you think there are other books, or other events you believe would profit your friend with respect to spiritual maturity, sacrifice and pay for it for them. And expect nothing in return.

Most of us have, unfortunately, been so immersed in the usual definition and description of Christianity and the supposed role of the pastor, that we have forgotten not only how to act in obedience to the Spirit of God on our own, we have have virtually forgotten the very concept of acting on our own. Someone else has to do for us or tell us what we should do. At least so we think.

YOU are the church, not the building, not the pastor, not the deacon board or the evangelist. You should be going out and telling others about the Church and about Jesus Christ. And it will cost you to do that. Sometimes it will cost actual money (like buying a book) and sometimes it will cost you personally, in relationships, and in other ways.

Don’t expect me to do for you. If you want to get one of these books into the hands of a friend, then YOU should be the one to put it in his or her hands. To do less is to duck your responsibility as a Christian.

Christian Living, Pulpit Pimps | 15 Comments »

(MN: It’s probably operator error [I’m the operator], but I was wrong. I still can’t quite get into my e-mails. Continue to make your requests through the comments. I won’t publish any of your addresses. We’re up to forty-five, by the way. )

(MN: Mail’s up! My VOWM says I have a back-up of 400 e-mails. Most of it is spam, but I’m sure some of it is requests for the book. By the way - we are up to about forty books so far. I should be mailing the majority of them out this week end. Once the supply is gone, I’ll start saving up some money to buy some more. I buy them in lots of 72 so I can get a slight cut on the price. )

(MN: Special note - The Pimp-mail is still down. My VOWM is working it, but the fact is it’s taking a while. If you want a book, go ahead and send me a comment. I will cull the addresses and delete the comments. )

(MN: After a week and a half hiatus, I am again making the offer of a free book - free, as in it doesn’t cost you anything, not even postage. Free, as in you don’t have to spend a dime. I still have 72. Neither the site nor e-mail were available to receive requests. Oh, if you give me the mailing address in the comments, I will make sure the address doesn’t get posted.

Hurry. Supply is, as they say, limited. )

One of the things this site attempts to do is warn you about the pimps out there waiting to take your money, shipwreck your faith, and build a huge monument to their egos. I constantly point out the indicators of their pimpishness. I give you examples, from their own sites and their own mouths, of their pimping ways. And I make it a point to name names so you can avoid them.

I’d like to start a second phase to this operation. And that phase is to let you know what you should look for in a healthy church. And what to look for really isn’t that hard to spot. Most of the time you can see the signs (or their lack) with one or two visits to the typical church.

A fellow by the name of Mark Dever has written a book entitled “What is a Healthy Church” previously “Nine Marks of a Healthy Church.” And in this book, he lays out some of the more important, and not always intuitively obvious, characteristics a church should have. Many of you have asked “Can you tell me where there is a church that isn’t pimping people?” The information in this book allows you to equip yourself to go out and identify the environment you need to grow in Christ.

Since this is not associated with the Melvinite Temple of Higher Happenings and Magnificent Structures organization or events, I’m not even going to charge you for shipping and handling.

In order to get this book into your hands, in order to equip you to defend yourself - and even guide you if you are with a group “evolving” into a church, I’m want to send you a copy of the book, free. That’s right - free. Send me an e-mail (click on the “Contact” link to see the e-mail address) with your address/PO box/whatever you feel comfortable supplying, and I will send you a copy of the book - for free. Of course, if God tells you to send me a thousand dollars, no wait - if he tells you to send me five thousand dollars, then ignore what I just said, send the money on in and get ready for your breakthrough as you watch God - - Oops. Sorry, I got carried away.

The book is a quick, easy read. But I suggest you read it through and then go back and read it more slowly a second or even third time. It will make you look at what you consider to be the characteristics of a healthy church. And it will let you see the challenge that every Christian is called to face with respect to the Gospel, the Body, and Christian living. Oh, and right now, I only have 72 of the books. I will make shipments every Saturday until I run out of books. Then I will have to scrape up the money to buy some more for mailing.

Once this posting has run its course here, I will make it a page so that it will stay somewhat visible. If you like, I will also attempt to keep a running total of the number of books I have sent out.

Christian Living | 89 Comments »

Hi. I’m the Vastly Overpriced Webmaster (VOPW).

After about 1.5 weeks of transferring and copying files, editing DNS records, and banging my head against the desk, I let go and let God.  That’s right, God took over this webserver, and HEALED it of all its malware, spam and whatnot.  All in the matter of 7 perfect and complete minutes.  All I had to do was give Melvin a large love offering of $7k, which he told me was the perfect love offering.

Riiiight….

So, the actual story is:  I used the talents that the Lord has given and a lot of late nights, research, e-mails, phone calls, etc., and figured out how to ‘redeploy’ the pp.org webserver.  Everyone please read what’s in this blog, as well as show it to your friends.  There is a lot of good information in it.  It is why I have worked hard to keep this site down as little as possible.  Please keep Melvin and this site in your prayers.

God Bless and have a great day!

Pulpit Pimps | 51 Comments »

Some of you have often nattered on about the “fact” that denominations are a man-made thing and not of God. I, and others, have tried to explain to you that denominations are usually a result of honest differences among a group of believers. I now, thanks to the Gay Christian Movement Watch, have an opportunity to show you the beginnings of a denominational event.

The Episcopal Church has for several years, been in the process of validating homosexuality as an acceptable practice and preference within the Episcopal Church. The organization has ordained women, homosexual men and women, and has appointed a homosexual bishop.

The current leader of the Episcopalians, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, is insisting that the churches under her accept homosexuality as a norm. Several churches are, in effect, telling the queen bee to take a hike. They are maintaining that homosexuality is contrary to the teachings of the Bible, the queen bee’s insistence to the contrary not withstanding.

What are the rebel Episcopalians’ options? They can either stay with the denomination (and thus signify their approval of the actions and doctrines of the denomination), or they can get the heck out of Dodge?

They’ve tried to talk some sense into the Episcopalian leadership. The leadership has said: “No. You are simply a pack of ignorant hicks and bigots if you can’t see that even Gay love is God’s love.” They are now being punished by the Episcopalian leadership for their stand.

As a result of this, several churches have made the very difficult choice of separating from the Episcopalian Church. If enough of them leave, and they agree to work together, guess what we have? Another denomination. Maybe they will call it the Heterosexual Episcopalians of America or something in order to differentiate it from the current batch of Episcopalians.

Will this denomination have formed simply because men wanted it? No! The denomination will have formed because the leaders of the parent denomination was dragging them over the cliff.

As a reminder, denominations generally exist because one group of people sincerely disagreed with another group in the organization and believed the differences were significant enough to split over. Generally, denominations are not simply the result of two groups wanting their way and breaking up out of selfishness.

As the blogger at Gay Christian Movement Watch has pointed out, what we are likely seeing is a mini-review of what will happen to the true church prior to Jesus’ return.

It’s my view that the pimps are, whether they realize it or not, prepping the church goers (as opposed to the true believers) for the end times. They continue to move away from sound doctrine, sound biblical practices, and an accurate focus on the Word, They continue to convince the church goers that God wants you rich and he doesn’t want you to suffer. Once the end begins, getting church goers to fall in line won’t be a problem. It will be you people who insist that the Bible is the word of God, that we are to live holy lives - as God defines holy, and that we are to expect persecution who will be looked at as the dangers to peace, unification, and true progress. You will be viewed as jealous haters, trouble makers, and ungodly. Oh wait, some church goers already view you that way.

As T. Dexter says: Get ready! Get ready! Get ready!

Pulpit Pimps | 73 Comments »

Sorry for the absence folks. Some mean man kidnapped my poor server and forced it to perform unspeakable acts (phishing, spam, etc.). My Internet Service Provider (ISP) sent me a couple of messages and explained what was going on. Then they shut my server down until I took care of it. I also had, wandering through this fiasco, the fact that the ISP kept getting declined when they tried to charge my credit card for the service.

I finally got my Vastly Over-Priced Webmaster and my ISP coordinated this morning and they were able to rescue my poor server. It’s back, none the worse for wear. E-mail should be back up shortly as well.

In case none of you knew it - I hate computers. I consider them a spawn from Hell, here purely to make my life miserable.

Pulpit Pimps | 15 Comments »