Right-Wing Exposed

“What would Jesus do”, WWJD, has been a popular slogan among Evangelicals over the past several years.  It has also been a profitable slogan, as many types of merchandise stamped with this logo are sold at high retail prices by and to Evangelicals.  Was it just another money-making scheme in the Church?

I do not believe that Evangelicals in America reflect what Jesus did when He walked this planet nearly 2000 years ago, or what He would do if He was here today.  What would Jesus “really” do if He came to His American Evangelical Church today?

I believe He would begin His ministry the same way He did as recorded in the New Testament.  He would cleanse His “church temple” of all the greedy, corrupt, profiteering business practices.  He would likewise cast out the sellers from His Church; the bookstores, restaurants, arcade rooms, music stores, coffee shops etc, again saying that His House is to be a house of prayer, not a “house of merchandise”.

He would empty out the massive checking and savings accounts of America’s mega churches and sell their stocks and bonds, and would help the poor and feed the five million children who will die from starvation this year while Evangelical mega churches bask in their wealth; reminding them as He did in the New Testament that He was hungry, in the person of these starving children, but they did not feed Him.  He would also sell their elaborate and luxurious mega church buildings, and would build homeless shelters for the 800,000 Americans who sleep in alleys and under bridges,  reminding Evangelicals that He was a stranger, in the person of America’s homeless, but they did not give Him shelter.

He would denounce the hypocrisy and greed of television evangelists who devour the possessions of widows and the elderly, as the religious hypocrites did in Jesus’ day, so that they can pay themselves six and seven figure salaries and fly around in personal jets.  He would shun these charlatans and would associate with the poor and outcasts of society as recorded in the New Testament.

He would visit AIDS wards and children’s cancer wards healing everyone.  And, He would do it humbly as He had done before; not like Benny Hinn renting large auditoriums where he can take up huge offerings and advertise his name in lights to exalt himself.  Moreover, He would tell Evangelicals to get out of politics and get back to ministry.  He would advise them to focus on changing people’s hearts, instead of changing federal judges and congressional legislation.

This is the kind of Jesus we read about in the Bible, and He is being misrepresented by America’s Evangelicals.  This is truly what Jesus would really do.

Today’s blog is the first of a brief four-part series on right-wing hypocrisy.  We all know that right wingers claim to be the champions of good morals in America.  Of course, much of the right-wing movement is made up of Evangelicals.  And, they have appointed themselves as watchmen over America’s secular culture.

The Evangelical movement led by James Dobson’s “Focus on the Family” organization, has often denounced Hollywood for all of the violent entertainment it produces.  They say that the abundance of violence is corrupting America’s children.  A great deal of their focus has been on many violent video games being marketed to our kids.  And, I do share their concern about many of these violent video games.

So, where’s the hypocrisy?  A little more than a year ago a new Christian video game hit the market.  It is titled “Left Behind Eternal Forces”, picking up on the famous Left Behind novel series.  The game is licensed by Tyndale House, which is also the publisher of some of James Dobson’s books.  The problem with this game is that it is also violent.

Left Behind Eternal Forces pictures the Earth after the Evangelicals’ supposed “secret rapture” event.  There are two types of people presented in this game; those who have become Christians after the rapture, and those who are not Christians.  And, Christian kids can play the part of the Christians and shoot to kill the infidels.

I find this to be troubling and hypocritical.  If it is wrong for Hollywood to produce violent entertainment, why is it alright for Evangelicals to do so, and to market this game within Evangelical churches?  Does violence become acceptable if Evangelicals can make money on it?  This is pure hypocrisy.

It is also interesting that Tim LaHaye, one of the authors of the Left Behind novel series, told the LA Times that he hoped Christian teenagers like the game.  In other words, he hoped that Christian kids had fun blowing away non-Christians in this apparently “Christian-approved”, violent video game. Can you say, “do as I say, not as I do”?

As we continue this four-part series on right-wing hypocrisy, we’ll focus on the right-wing’s propensity to liberally dispense family and marriage advice in an effort to save our culture.  Of course, leading the charge in this effort is James Dobson and his “Focus on the Family” organization.

Dobson and his Evangelical cohorts tell us that our American society is quickly degenerating.  They point to the breakup of the traditional American family, divorce and increasing addiction rates to alcohol, drugs and pornography.  And, I agree that these are troubling signs in our culture.

So, where’s the hypocrisy?  Jesus said that we are to “remove the log from our own eye before we attempt to remove the logs from the eyes of others”.  In other words, before we begin sharing our expert advice with others about any issue, we had better be sure that we have that issue under control ourselves.

Surveys done within the Evangelical Church over the past several years by the “Barna Research Group” have revealed some very troubling statistics.  Barna discovered that addiction rates and other sins within the Church rival the same percentages as those within our secular culture.  And, these surveys found that the divorce rate in the Church was just as high as among non-Christians.  In fact, in some areas of our nation, the Church’s divorce rate was actually higher.

Based on Barna’s statistical results we appear to have a situation where Evangelicals are basically saying to our secular society: “Our plan is failing within the Church, but you need to try it anyway.”  Wouldn’t it be wise for Evangelicals to get a working model in the Church before so freely dispensing their advice to others?  Perhaps Dobson’s Focus on the Family organization should spend more time focusing on Evangelical families and less time focusing on our secular culture. 

A major emphasis of right-wing Evangelicals in recent years has been to keep the Ten Commandments in our secular culture.  Right-wingers are fighting to keep them in our public and government buildings, and would like to once again have them put back in our public schools.  This issue received national attention when the Alabama chief justice, Roy Moore, was removed from his judicial position because of his refusal to remove the Ten Commandments from government property.

The Christian Right has drawn a line in the sand regarding the Ten Commandments, and is willing to pursue all legal avenues to keep them in our culture.  Conservative, religious, legal organizations, such as the “American Center for Law and Justice” and the “Alliance Defense Fund”, have fought, and are fighting, many legal battles on behalf of the Church in courts across America to keep the Ten Commandments in our public and government buildings.

One would think that Evangelicals must hold the Ten Commandments in high esteem and cherish them greatly, based on their aggressive efforts to have them recognized in our public institutions.  One would expect that the Church itself must be honoring, teaching and preaching these commandments.  One would surmise that the importance of these commandments, and of obeying them, must be a major focus among Evangelicals.  One would assume that the same Church that insists that the Ten Commandments should not have been removed from our public schools, would never tolerate any attempt to remove them from the Church.  It would certainly be logical to assume and expect these things, yet this is not the case.

A common teaching within Evangelical Christianity is that the Ten Commandments were nailed to the cross of Jesus and have been abolished.  I myself had a debate on a Christian college campus with the president of the Christian Apologetics Ministry in Minneapolis regarding this issue, and he espoused this teaching.  The same Christian Church that denounces the removal of the Ten Commandments from our public institutions, readily accepts the proclamation of a doctrine that, in effect, removes the Ten Commandments from the Church!  I think that most reasonable people would find this to be inconsistent and hypocritical.

If Evangelicals want our secular society to recognize and honor the Ten Commandments, it would seem reasonable for them to do so first.  After all, why should our secular culture want them if the Church doesn’t?

Unquestionably the issue that right-wing Evangelicals emphasize most is their pro-life agenda.  They have fought against abortion ever since Roe v. Wade became law, and it is their intent to overturn this, what they consider to be, bad law.

My question to Evangelical leaders is: “Are you truly pro-life?”  You are fighting to save the lives of the unborn across America, but what about the already born?  According to the “Feed My Starving Children” organization, more than five million children will die from starvation this year.  And, based on their figures, everyone of them could be fed two nutritious meals a day throughout the year for less than 600 million dollars.

Based on statistics from “The Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches” and “The National Center for Charitable Statistics”, the total annual donated income of Christian churches and ministries in America is about eighty billion dollars.  That means that if every Christian church and ministry set aside just one percent of their annual income to feed starving children, there would be enough money to feed all of them two meals a day throughout the year.

These are already born children who feel the pangs of hunger and who wither away before their parents’ eyes.  While the American Church is sitting on hundreds of billions of dollars in assets, can’t it allocate one percent of its massive annual income to save these children?

I am pro-life myself, and personally oppose abortion, but this is pure hypocrisy.  Our secular society would probably be more receptive to hear what Evangelicals have to say about the unborn, once they have established credibility by taking care of the already born.

I hope you read my piece last week titled, “Lifestyles Of The Rich And Religious”.  That one should have startled you, but we have plenty more startling revelations to come.  Today I want to share some things with you about Joyce Meyer Ministries.  Joyce Meyer is probably the most famous woman preacher/teacher in America, if not the entire world.

The St. Louis Post Dispatch revealed some interesting data some time ago about Joyce Meyer and her ministry.  The figures released were from the years 2002 and 2003.  It was reported that the annual income of her ministry was about 90 million dollars.  It also revealed that Joyce’s annual salary was $900,000, and her husband Dave’s was $450,000.  That’s nearly a million and a half annually between the two of them.  Not bad for a “gospel preacher”.  But, that’s only half of the story.

Joyce’s ministry also bought her and Dave a two million dollar home with all bills paid by the ministry.  I guess we can understand that, right?  I mean how can she and her husband possibly pay for their own home with the mere million and a half salary they receive?  Oh, by the way, they also received an additional $50,000 annually for a housing allowance.  Well, I guess everyone needs a petty cash account for those odds and ends that you can’t afford.  And, the ministry board authorized the Meyers to control another $790,000 fund to be used at their discretion for bonuses to “executive management”.  I wonder who that could be, let’s see, Joyce is the President of the board and her husband Dave is the vice-president.  Well, just because they’re the two highest executive management officers does not necessarily mean that any of that extra $790,000 went to them, right?  And, even if it did, these people have bills to pay and hungry mouths to feed too.  Oh, that’s right, their bills are paid by the ministry. 

Then, there’s the Meyers’ three children.  Joyce saw to it that she wasn’t going to be a selfish parent and leave them out, so she had her ministry buy each of them a home.  However, you have to give Joyce credit.  She did not want to spoil her children by giving each of them million dollar homes, so she only let her ministry pay $1,475,000 total for the three homes.  She made her children live humbly in half-million dollar houses.  Good for you Joyce.

There are reportedly between 8 and 11 members on her ministry board.  Of course, Joyce, Dave and two or three of their children are included among those members.  I suppose they want to have enough family members on the board to make sure that the board doesn’t get carried away and give them more than what’s necessary to enable them to live humble lives as followers of Jesus.

I should mention that the board also authorized the Meyers to have free use of a corporate jet.  A few years ago when Joyce was in Minneapolis she shared why she needs to fly to her meetings in a private jet.  She explained that waiting in airports and all of the accompanying hassles involved with airline terminals would be so tiring.  Whereas now, when flying in her private jet, she can arrive at her meetings feeling fresh and be better prepared to be used by God.  I guess that makes sense.  How stupid of me not to think of that.  I should have known that Joyce would have a good and valid reason.  People need to travel in luxury in order to be powerfully used by God as Joyce is at her meetings.  That must be why the Apostle Paul either walked or rode an animal as he traveled across the Middle East, Europe and Asia preaching the gospel, so that he could be fresh for his meetings as well.  Paul knew Joyce’s secret.  Just ride a mule hundreds of miles and then you’ll be ready to be used powerfully by God.  After all, a mule and a private jet could be considered to be comparable methods of transportation when it comes to comfortable travel in preparation for preaching appointments.  Likewise, the Apostle Paul, who literally wrote half of the New Testament and evangelized two continents walking and riding an animal, was probably not used anymore powerfully by God than Joyce Meyer.  And, I’m sure that he probably used similar tactics as Joyce as well, right?

Joyce Meyer and the rest of these personal-jet-flying, million-dollar-salary-taking, mansion-living, diamond-wearing, luxury-car-driving, self-pampering, prosperity-preaching, gospel-abusing television evangelists are not worthy to carry the shoes of the Apostle Paul or any of the early disciples of Jesus Christ.  Paul said that he preached the gospel “free of charge” so that he would not “abuse his authority” in the gospel.  Does that sound like Joyce Meyer or her cohorts? 

It’s time to expose these Evangelical frauds, and that is what you will find me doing every Monday.  The Bible says that church leaders who sin publicly should be exposed and rebuked publicly.  So, I encourage you to share these posts far and wide.  These are the same people who are also very vocal and active in the right-wing political arena.  When people see their greed and corruption it should help to shrink their support base.

I have added a new page to this website today titled, “Why My Book Is Important”.  I encourage you to click on it because it gives a good overview of the problems I’m exposing in the Evangelical Church, as well as a good idea of what you can expect to find in my book.  Tomorrow I’ll be writing about “The Right-Wing Israel Conspiracy”.

Evangelical double standards

 

 Evangelicals Can Sin, But You Can't [6:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (35)

Right-wingers dominate the air waves of talk radio.  They also like to dominate those who call in with differing opinions.  Although professing to be morally superior than those on the “left”, conservative hosts like Laura Ingraham, Michael Medved and Michael Savage regularly resort to name calling and shouting people down with whom they disagree.  They freely dispense disparaging labels upon their opponents and have no problem resorting to shameful mockery, such as Rush Limbaugh’s mimicry of Michael Fox’s physical symptoms resulting from his disease.

Right-wing talkers also have an uncanny ability to come up with unique facts and figures to support their positions, whether or not they can be substantiated.  Dennis Prager recently stated that more people had died from dog bites than from second hand smoke.  On another occasion when confronted about how he was using the term “hypocrisy”, he simply said that the dictionary definition was wrong.

Michael Medved always seems to come up with statistics that contradict common knowledge and common sense.  In the midst of the obvious hard times in America, Michael Medved tells his listeners that 80% of Americans say that they are doing better than ever, even as America experiences record numbers of home forclosures, credit card debt and households without health insurance.  I wonder what color the sky is in Michael Medved’s world.

Hugh Hewitt and Dennis Prager have recently stated that John McCain can’t be a conservative because he believes in global warming.  This is especially interesting because Prager has often said that liberals have no room for disagreement on key issues.  He says that the left ostrasizes anyone who does not agree, and declares that such people cannot be true liberals.  He has frequently stated that the left requires you to believe in global warming in order to be considered as a liberal.  However, right-wing talkers, like Hewitt and Prager, are doing the same thing to McCain.  He is being ostrasized because he does believe in global warming.  So right- wingers have no room for diagreement either when it comes to global warming.  If you want to be considered a conservative by right wing talk gurus, you have to oppose global warming.  This is pure hypocrisy.  Oh, but that’s right, Dennis Prager says that the dictionary definition of hypocrisy is wrong.

According to the Bible, Jesus had to “clean out” the Church in His day on two different occasions, driving the buyers and sellers out of the temple and telling the religious leaders that they had turned His church into a “den of thieves”. I think it’s fair to say that if Jesus were walking through the Evangelical mega churches in America with their coffee shops, restaurants, bookstores, arcade rooms and gospel dvds marked up as much as 2000%, that He would certainly clean out these luxurious, self-pampering, religious houses today. And, He would also probably call today’s prosperity-preaching, mega church, religious leaders a den of thieves once again, because the Bible says that Jesus does not change.

This website is still under construction, but there will be new blogs and podcasts added frequently bringing you revelations of hypocrisy, dishonesty, sadism, greed and financial abuse within the Evangelical right wing that will amaze and disgust you. Over the next couple months there will be dozens of videos and audio podcasts added to this site, as well as regular blog entries.

I am an Evangelical pastor myself, but I’m blowing the whistle on my right wing colleagues and pulling the veil back to reveal what’s been going on behind closed doors. I also encourage you to check out my book, “Right Wing Politics and Religion: The Unholy Alliance Exposed”, which is filled with “insider” factual evidence that will blow you away. And, there will soon be two podcasts available that you won’t want to miss: “The Gospel For Sale” and “Evangelical Sadism”.

Please register and begin blogging yourself, and let’s get some mutual feedback going. This is an election year, and the kind of information in my book and on this website could help send the Evangelical right wingers home, getting them out of politics and back to ministry.

Pastor Henry Bechthold