AMERICAN ADDICTION TO ENVANGELISTS

AMERICAN ADDICTION TO ENVANGELISTS

200 YEARS AGO GEORGE WHITEFIELD'S EVANGELICAL ORATORY SO MOVED AMERICA'S LEADERS AND COMMON FOLK THAT SOME OF OUR GREATS WOULD ACTUALLY BE MOVED TO TEARS. THE GIFT THAT SUCH MEN HAVE AND DEVELOP HAS BEEN AND REMAINS A GREAT INFLUENCE ON OUR NATION. IN THE SAME TRADITION, TODAY'S EVANGELISTS AWAKEN A SPIRIT IN LISTENERS OR MAINTAIN THEIR SPIRITUAL LIVES IN WAYS THAT ARE MASTERFUL AND GENERALLY SURPASS THE PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ESTABLISHMENT.

America's evangelists or televangelists allow us to experience feelings of great worth as they teach us to eliminate negative influences and imagine ourselves filled with the greatness befitting children of the living God. I have occaisionally suggested that some of our rabbis take lessons from these genuine professionals. On Sunday morning I turn to such pastors as Joel Osteen and admire the way in which they radiate positive emotion and fill their audience's lives with the psychological power to transform their own lives. Yet, for all the admiration I have for such professionals, the truth is that a dimension is characteristically missing from the deliveries and results of all of these genuinely great orators. The dimension is the realm of living in a state in which God's blessings are earned for performance of HIS GENUINE WRITTEN LAWS and for establishing a lifestyle in harmony with GOD'S AGENDA. America's evangelical ministers never exhort their audiences to do this. Instead they actually administer a psychic narcotic which gives the listeners the feeling that they are transported into a dimension in which their belief or faith is, in and of itself, the mechanism which transforms their lives into a life filled with blessings. The truth, according to God's written Law, the Torah of Moses; according to Israel's Prophets, according to Jesus of Nazareth himself and, of course the realities demonstrated by history, is different.

Take for example Joel Osteen's 11/25/12, Sunday morning proclamations that because King David wrote in Psalm 139 : 14 that "... I am awesomely and wonderfully made ..."; that the "I am" is a Divine mechanism available to anyone to apply to his or her own psychological and spiritual agenda. Osteen backs up this allegation with the gleam on his handsome but shallow countenance and the insistence reiterated by similarly fallacious claims. The actual Hebrew in which David wrote the psalm is more of a humbled and awestruck recognition of God's creativity rather than a proclamation of David's own worth or greatness.

Osteen continues his sermon on the screen by assuring his disciples that with the right "I ams" you attract God's blessings, i.e., you bless yourself. He grafts this childishness to the related evangelical notions "I am approved" and "I am accepted". That these concepts are foreign to the Hebrew Bible matters little as Osteen deftly juxtaposes his discovery of his "I am" principle to Abraham's barren wife Sarai, who could only have a child many years later in life once she has her name changed to Sarah and becomes psychologically infused with Osteen's idea that the right "I am" would bring about the miraculous birth of Isaac when Abraham was 100 and she was past menopause. Osteen erroneously applies the faithlessness of the 12 spies whom Moses sent out in preparation for the invasion of Canaan. The 10 who feared the people of the land and likened themselves to "grasshoppers" in the eyes of the land's gigantic inhabitants; simply applied false "I ams", while Joshua and Caleb used the right ones.

After Osteen's complete treatment, the audience is supposed to awaken to the fantasy that their full potential and the realization of their true destiny is simply a function of their ability to master the Osteen formula. So the Law of Moses is according to Osteen a watered down version of the truth and the grace that Christian clergy from time immemorial have claimed comes from belief in Jesus' death and resurrection leads automatically to the nature of God.

The Torah Universe Reality Check

The truth is vastly different :

Jesus lived according to the written word of God as it was Divinely given to Moses and Israel's Prophets. He accepted none of the rabbinic, i.e., pharisaic mythologies of an oral law. This cast him as an enemy of the other rabbis. He was the honest man (see Jeremiah 5 : 1) for whom God might have spared the nation from destruction - in this case from the Romans. If Jesus - actually Yehoshua - knew that Constantine would have his court clerics sent to an island to invent the New Testament which would misrepresent everything he lived and died for, he might not have deprived his family and followers of his vital presence at such an early age.

When I imagine Jesus considering his death sentence in those few seconds as he stood before Pilate, I feel a powerful love and admiration for the man who was ready to experience an excruciating torture and death so that the nation of Israel might know that he did it so that it would sufficiently humble them so that God would allow this humility to incubate into repentance and earn His pardon. The great disasters following Jesus' martyrdom were 1. that the few Jews, such as the Ebionites, who got the message of Jesus, were persecuted by the likes of Paul and subsequently banished from Christendom. (There is however, a later day, modern adaptation of the ancient Ebionites operating today for those who are interested.) 2. That the pagan Emperor Constantine had a political agenda which became the foundation of his new Catholic religion and his imperial quest to unify the Roman Empire's numerous and occasionally rebellious groups into a malleable populace. 3. That the Jewish rabbis who objected to Jesus' unadulterated application of the Hebrew Bible predisposed Jews to banish Jesus from the life of Israel. To this day we have very little knowledge of Jesus, though it is clear that he was faithful to the Law of Moses at a time when Israel's rabbis were fabricating a religion of substitutes and canonizing their mythological laws and commentaries AS IF they were given to Moses simultaneously with God's written law. 4. That good Christians and Jews have been deprived of the true knowledge of how to EARN GOD'S BLESSINGS. 5. That Christians persecuted Jews in the name of the Hebrew rabbi whom they falsely claim is God.

The fact is that God is ready to pardon and bless. However, no amount of prayer, ritual, ceremony, etc., no matter how long the string of liturgy, no matter how long you utter the same words, no matter how fancy and gala the ceremony, will be an acceptable substitute for actual compliance with God's laws - period !!!

America is being PUNISHED for its heresies. Israel is being punished for her heresies. Try the Torah Universe formula. Turn to God by starting to actually read what HE PROVIDED US IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. Step into the mindset of humility and contrition and wholeheartedly ask God to forgive yours sins and tell Him that you are returning to Him, i.e., that you are repenting by BEGINNING A NEW LIFE COMPLYING WITH HIS LAWS.

If you read the Hebrew Bible for its own sake and, in humility, supplicate God for understanding, you will be amazed at the experiences that you have the potential to enjoy and apply forever. As you build your new life on a solid foundation of God's Laws you will find that they are simple and will lead to His participation in your life. Your awareness of His Presence will lead to the awesome realization which David discovered and also to a Love of your Creator which leads to loyalty to Him and the long awaited feeling and practice of brotherhood which God intends to be the cornerstone of all human endeavors. Brotherhood, in addition to adopting God's desired diet for humankind, observing HIS SABBATH and festivals and reestablishing romance as a sacred, spiritual Divine gift will renew America and Israel and create a new present - a reality in which our God returns from the exile to which we have banished Him, into the dimension of active participation in our lives.

In response to Joel Osteen's sermon, I want it understood that not everyone is amazing or great and that it is good to be average too. His misuse of the Divine prerogative, "I Am" is not a valid concept - see Isaiah 47 : 10. And all of his listeners should enjoy his uplifting oratory with their brains engaged. And they should also help Joel to elevate his level of spirituality by requesting that he provide biblical insights which will uplift us all and without the invalid idea of telling everyone that he or she is amazing. If he does this and you all read the Bible together then there is, in all likelihood the possibility that amazing things will happen around you all, but you have to stay in reality - God's reality.

More on Joel Osteen

On Sunday, 12/23/12 Joel's message of establishing one's worry free life on faith in God's ability and willingness to deliver His blessings included the story of Daniel in the lions' den.

My personal belief is that applying a vague memory of the childrens' story version of Daniel which he or she learned 30, 40, 50 or 60 years earlier is a good, Madison Avenue marketing technique. Osteen demonstrated the value of ejecting worry from one's life and adopting a courageous faith based lifestyle when he provided the image of the sleeping Daniel surrounded by the lions. However, it is irresponsible to exhort adults to feel that they can be like Daniel when neither the tens of thousands of adults in the audience or Osteen himself know what was going on in Daniel's life.

Let's look at this episode as responsible adults: Daniel was a vegan. He ate a plant based diet, and "... would not defile himself with the portion of the king's food ...." ( Daniel 1 : 8 ). He proposed to the chief of the eunichs who provided their food that for 10 days Daniel and his young men eat only vegetables. " And at the end of 10 days they appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the youths who did eat the portion of the king's fare."

( Daniel 1 : 15 ).

Perhaps Osteen could have chosen the episode of Shadrak, Meshakh and Aved-nego to illustrate that faith brings results. The three men refused to bow and worship Nevukhadnessar's golden idol when the horns and other instruments were played. So the king had them bound and thrown into a fiery furnace. Chapter three of the Book of Daniel continues with the king looking astonished as 4 men, one looking like an angel, walked unharmed in the furnace.

Daniel in the lions' den begins in Chapter 6, not with the children's image which Osteen brings to the minds of his desperate or under educated audience, but with a new king of Persia, Daryavesh (a.k.a. Darius). The new king likes Daniel and has already appointed him one of the 120 governors of his kingdom. Daniel being virtuous, wise, not to mention a prophet, distinguished himself so that the king wanted to appoint him over the whole realm. The other governors ( satraps and presidents ) plotted to have Daniel killed. They brought a proclamation for the king to sign which they new would incriminate Daniel. " All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects, and the satraps, the counsellors, and the governors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whoever makes petition of any God or man for 30 days save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the Lion's den."

( Daniel 6 : 8 ).

Of course, these villains found Daniel praying toward Jerusalem as was his tradition. "Now when Daniel came to know that the writing was signed, he went into his house; ( now he had windows open in his chamber towards Jerusalem, and he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.)" (Daniel 6 : 11).

The king was distressed, but had to go along with the decree which all of these men rushed to inform him that Daniel had broken. So Daniel was caste into the lions' den, but the king assured Daniel that "Thy God whom thou servest continually, He will rescue thee ( Daniel 6 : 17 ).

"Then the king then went to his palace and spent the night fasting" ( Daniel 6 : 19). "Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste to the lions' den. And when he came to the den, he cried out in a tone of anguish to to Daniel : and the king spoke and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to rescue thee from the lions ? Then Daniel said to the king, O king, live forever. My God has sent His angel, and has shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me: seeing that I was found innocent before Him; and also before thee, O king, have I done no wrong. Then the king was exceedingly glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the Den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he trusted in his God (Daniel 6:20 - 24 ).

What Osteen is morally obligated to explain is the actual context of this miracle. Daniel didn't just wake up one day, hear a sermon on TV and decide he was going to get blessed by refraining from worry. Chapter 14, verses 12 to 20 of the Book of the Ezekiel should be an eternal reminder for TV pastors, rabbis and all people interested in earning their redemption, just who Daniel is in the eyes of our God. "The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, son of man, when the land sins against Me by trespassing grievously, then I will stretch out My hand upon it, and will break its staff of bread, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they should only save their own lives by their righteousness, says the Lord God." So the moral to remember, Joel, is that God is just and loving and He does provide His Word, the Written Torah to guide mankind toward righteousness so that they can earn His blessings. You, Joel need to consider whether you want to be a marketing man or a genuine teacher of righteousness. When the time of judgment brings mankind's sinning to an end, you will have already benefited from the money you earned from your terrific performances before millions of people, but the insurance policies you sold them may not have the pay back value they thought they were buying. Now , imagine if you took your talent and taught your listeners just what God does ask of us in order to earn His blessings. You would be an amazing teacher of righteousness and one who could bring many to repentance and deliverance. There is a ancient Chinese adage that a man who is truly free, knows the relationship between his obligations and his destiny. In the Book of Isaiah, chapter 11, verse 3, the messiah is described : " And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord;" If we are taught to fear and love God and to stay strong and courageous in righteousness, He will indeed bless us. I would like to see you play your part in promoting a rededication of America to Righteousness.