LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY nebris)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/4752415.html

April 26, 2007, 3:09PM

AUSTIN — A package left at a women's clinic that performs abortions contained an explosive device capable of inflicting serious injury or death, investigators said today.

"It was in fact an explosive device," said David Carter, assistant chief of the Austin Police Department. "It was configured in such a way to cause serious bodily injury or death."

The package was found Wednesday in a parking lot outside the Austin Women's Health Center, south of downtown Austin.

Nearby Interstate 35 was briefly closed, and a nearby apartment complex was evacuated while a bomb squad detonated the device.

How much of this is going unreported?

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY jenfer47)

People are discussing Benny Hinn on another forum, so I contributed this essay:

Benny Hinn has placed death curses on his critics! Admittedly, I have a bee in my bonnet towards Hinn. My aunt donated to his ministry generously for over a decade before she finally succumbed to Alzheimer's. Her constant "witnessing" drove a wedge between her and her family - and also her boyfriend, who was himself a Christian but just didn't want to get married again. It made me sad, as she had been such a nice person back when she was a "sinner" - one who had genuine insights into life, not just regurgitated sermons! In retrospect, she may have turned to the church for structure as her own mind began to fail. But no one from that church came help when she could no longer write a check. - Jeni

http://wittenburgdoor.com/archives/bennyhinn.html
http://wittenburgdoor.com/archives/lastword-168.html
http://wittenburgdoor.com/archives/theheretic.html
Hinn hypnosis

http://www.pfo.org/prophecy.htm
As a teenager, Hinn traveled with a drama group. He was known as a showman.... He learned his skill well. His prophecies on Dec. 31, 1989 were all a stage play.... Hinn evidently knows that his kind of a show feeds the sensational and fuels his followers’ emotions. As in his “healing crusades,” he has taken them on yet another adrenalin and endorphin high. These kind of highs become addictive and make one less able to discern. Judging from his congregation’s response (heard on the cassette tape) they loved every second of it.

http://wittenburgdoor.com/archives/theheretic.html
"All we want is for Benny Hinn to make good on promises he made to me in 1993," says Ole Anthony, president of the Christian watchdog organization. "He promised he would stop airing fake healings, that he would medically verify all healings, that he would wait six months after the healing before putting it on TV, to make sure it was authentic. He said he would do all these things, and he's done none of them.

http://wittenburgdoor.com/archives/theheretic.html
A Houston woman who thought she was cured of lung cancer ("It will never come back!" Hinn told her) rejected her doctors' advice and care – and died two months later....
Even sadder than the people who think they're healed are the ones so sick that Hinn's employees never allow them to be seen on stage. People suffering from paralysis, brain damage, dementia and the like – people who couldn't possibly make any "demonstration" on stage – are rejected at a screening session held backstage.
In two cases journalists have tried to verify all the healings at a particular crusade. For an HBO documentary called A Question of Miracles, researchers attended a Portland, Oregon, crusade at which 76 miracles were claimed. Even though Hinn had agreed to provide medical verification of each one, he stonewalled requests for the data, then eventually responded 13 weeks later – with only five names. HBO followed up the five cases and determined that a woman "cured" of lung cancer had died nine months later, an old woman's broken vertebra wasn't healed after all, a man with a logging injury deteriorated as he refused medication and a needed operation, a woman claiming to be healed of deafness had never been deaf (according to her husband), and a woman complaining of "breathlessness" had stopped going to the doctor on instructions of her mother.

http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/hinn/general.htm
At one crusade, a man Hinn had "slain in the Spirit" fell on a prostrate elderly woman and broke her hip, resulting in her death. The lawsuit was settled out of court.... An elderly Hinn follower was turned away from one entrance to ARGO Stadium in Sacramento, CA because she had not given enough money to enter there. Later, on the stage she was "slain in the Spirit," and while she was lying on the floor a huge man, likewise "slain," landed on top of her, breaking her leg. In 1993 in Basel, Switzerland, Hinn prophesied over a man with cancer that he had many years to live. He died two days later. In Nairobi, Kenya early in May 2000, four patients released from a hospital to attend Hinn's "Miracle Crusade" died while waiting for prayer....

Benny Hinn: "I see quite something amazing. I see rows of caskets lining up in front of this TV set and I see them bringing them closer to the TV set and as people are coming closer I see actually loved ones picking up the hands of the dead and letting them touch the screen and people are getting raised as their hands are touching that screen. With this program -- I'm not talking about my program -- I'm talking programs, plain programs aired -- the glory of God will be so on TBN that there's going to be divine resurrection happening as people bring their loved ones to the TV set."

Hinn prophecy: “The Spirit of God tells me an earthquake will hit the east coast of America and destroy much in the Nineties.” [Oh well.... Fidel Castro was also to die in the Nineties! - K.]

http://www.rickross.com/reference/hinn/hinn2.html
The Miracles and the Money

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/main_miracles.html
Fifth Estate: "Do You Believe in Miracles?"

http://www.wittenburgdoor.com/godstuff/dateline_hinn.html
Video excerpt from a "Dateline" expose. Hinn has a private jet and stays at hotel suites charging thousands per night; he racks up $6,000 clothing bills and $900 dinner bills - all paid for by donations to his ministry.

http://www.pfo.org/oldhouse.htm

http://wittenburgdoor.com/archives/theheretic.html
But there's an even darker side to Hinn and his organization. In 1998 two members of his inner circle died of heroin overdoses. In 1999, after one of his many vows of reform, he fired several board members and hired an ex-cop named Mario C. Licciardello to do an internal investigation of his ministry. Licciardello was the brother-in-law of Carman, the popular Christian singer, so many think Hinn considered him "safe." But Licciardello did such a good job – taking hundreds of depositions and getting to the bottom of the heroin use – that Hinn then sued him. While Licciardello was still his head of security, the ministry filed a lawsuit demanding that all his files be turned over and sealed, because their public release could result in the end of the ministry. One day before Hinn was supposed to give his deposition in this case, Licciardello had a mysterious heart attack and died. The Hinn organization made an out-of-court settlement with Licciardello's widow, which included sealing the court papers.

http://wittenburgdoor.com/archives/theheretic.html
Older women living alone are the number one demographic group when it comes to sending money to television ministries.

http://www.wittenburgdoor.com/archives/lastword-152.html
Our church here in Dallas includes many who were formerly homeless. Some of them had given money to televangelists, but were turned away when they asked for help in their time of need. We tried to talk to some of these televangelists but the walls were impenetrable. As we collected more and more information about them, we saw the same pattern develop in each one. We established a hotline for victims of televangelists at 1(800) 229-VICTIM and received thousands of calls.

http://wittenburgdoor.com/archives/airmen.html
The money that pays for mansions and silk suits and limos is blood money. It was earned from the honest labor of hard-working men and women. And it is being burned at the rate of $2,500 an hour for the aviation fuel to propel yet another slick pretty boy to yet another spa. Meanwhile, Grandma mails another check to bless the ministry. All is well.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY nebris)

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/28/tobias-prostitution/

Former U.S. AID director Randall Tobias, who resigned yesterday upon admitting that he frequented a Washington escort service, oversaw a controversial policy advocated by the religious right that required any US-based group receiving anti-AIDS funds to take an anti-prostitution “loyalty oath.”

Aid groups bitterly opposed the policy, charging that it “was so broad — and applied even to their private funds — that it would obstruct their outreach to sex workers who are at high risk of transmitting the AIDS virus.” But President Bush wouldn’t budge. He signed a 2003 National Security Presidential Directive saying prostitution “and related activities” were “inherently harmful and dehumanizing.”

Several groups and countries had their funding cut due to the policy. Brazil lost $40 million for “one of its most successful anti-AIDS strategies, persuading sex workers to use condoms or other measures to stop spreading the disease.”

During an “Ask the White House” online chat in 2004, Tobias defended the policy, saying the U.S. was “partnering with communities” to begin “fighting sex trafficking and prostitution, while still serving victims of these activities.” Tobias added that he was overseeing several “highly successful” relationship programs “aimed at men and boys to help them develop healthy relationships with women.”

A truly inspired idea, having someone who pays for “gals come over to the condo to give me a massage” run programs on developing “healthy relationships with women.”

For that Mr. Tobias earns a Goatse Love Ring. Good links in the original post btw.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY navytron89) Found this on atheism  and decided others needed to see it.




In case it's a bit difficult to read, this is what it says:

Sorry... you're just like the rest of us. The dictionary says "good" is to be "morally excellent". Let's check the standard, the Ten Commandments, to see how far we fall short: Is God first in your life? Do you love Him with "heart, mind, soul and strength?" Have you made a god to suit yourself? Have you used His name in vain? Have you kept the Sabbath day holy? Have you always honoured your parents? Have you hated anyone, and therefore committed murder in your heart? Have you looked with lust and therefore committed adultery in your heart? Have you lied (including "fibs"), stolen (the value is irrelevant, includes downloading movies and burning CDs), or coveted other people's possessions? If you are honest, you know you will be guilty on the Day of Judgement. God, however, doesn't want you to be sent to Hell. Jesus Christ suffered and died on the Cross, so you could go free. That's how much God loves you. We broke God's Law, but Jesus paid our fine. Then He rose from the grave and defeated death. If you repent (be sorry to God that you've violated His Law, and turn away from your sin) and trust in Jesus, God will forgive your sins and grant you everlasting life. Read your Bible daily (start with the chapter called John).
www.needgod.com    tract reproduced by wayofthemaster.com.au

Awesome, a litmus test of morals that everyone fails. I'm sure thousands of people converted just because they desperately want that little square to turn green.

From Navytron89: I went to the website and found it was a Dominionist/Evangelistic/Fundies site with a ton of propaganda links, including Evangelical Boot Camps in Australia/NZ. 

Damn, I thought Australia and NZ were free from those wackos. I guess when I visit, I'll have to bring my Clue-by-Four and Boot-to-the-Head shoes to protect myself from those jerks.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This article about the Pat Tillman debacle illustrates the problems with Christian supremacy in the military. It also illustrates how atheists and other outsiders are treated by the Christianized command:

As an institution, does the American military exist solely to defend America or does it perhaps also have an obligation to promote Christianity? More than a few Christians in America seem to want to use the American military to promote Christianity, both to people in the military and abroad. Even worse, President George W. Bush may share these views on some level.

America's secular government is not compatible with a religious military that has a religious mission. If the military is used in any way to promote, foster, or encourage religious beliefs, then it will be acting to undermine not just secular, civil government, but also a religiously pluralistic society in America. The American military must remain neutral with respect to all religions, treating people of all religions and no religion equally. How can atheists or religious minorities trust the military to protect them or to protect secular government, for example, if the military is also promoting Christianity?

****

It should be noted that the Tillman family hasn't said whether they are atheists or not. They may be, or they may not be. They aren't Christians and whatever their beliefs are, they seem to tend towards secularism and humanism rather than supernatural religion. Pat Tillman's brother Rich certainly seems to be an atheist because at his brother's funeral, Rich said: "Pat isn't with God. He's f -- ing dead. He wasn't religious. So thank you for your thoughts, but he's f -- ing dead."

Ultimately, though, it doesn't really matter if Pat Tillman was an atheist or not, or if anyone else in his family is an atheist or not. The fact that they are not Christians and are perceived as atheists by Christians in the military was sufficient for them to be treated as inferior to Christians. [emphasis mine] The religious, anti-atheist bigotry is there regardless of whether it was directly at genuine atheists. For Christian Supremacists, it doesn't matter whether someone is really an atheist or not; all that matters is that one isn't a real Christian.

In a search for info to a reply I made re a Dark Christianity thread (in regards to spiritual abuse within the Assemblies of God in Australia and the Australian Assemblies trying to start a dominionist movement in Oz), I discovered something that was, shall we say, quite interesting to me...and also firms up a lot of what I've noticed as an Assemblies walkaway myself.

I've written rather extensively on abusive practices within the Assemblies, including the promotion of political dominionism as part of their general patterns of subterfuge and abuse.

What I did not expect to find (outside of various survivor forums for folks who've escaped abusive Assemblies churches, anyways) was to find a website run by an ex-Assemblies pastor who was apparently run out of the denomination for expressing his concerns re spiritual abuse in the congregation.

Now, those of us who've escaped the Assemblies know that they can often be as bad as Scientology with specific practices in the church (especially when lawsuits come to mind--ask poor Laura Schubert how the Assemblies headquarters filed an amicus brief to try to prevent her from collecting court awards after an involuntary exorcism). Those familiar with Paul Yonggi Cho in particular know the abusive practices now common have sanction from the highest officials in the Assemblies. What is surprising (to me, anyways) is to have it confirmed directly by the ousted pastor, who has also apparently consulted an exit counselor re his concerns:
( Pastor ousted, talks to experts in coercive groups due to his concerns re systematic spiritual abuse )

The website also notes that there have been a pattern of recent ousters by Assemblies leaders of pastors critical of the main leadership and its direction. (Interestingly, one of these letters all but confirms that World Harvest Church in Ohio is yet another "daughter church" of the Assemblies.)

Another interesting article shows, possibly in the most damning light I've ever seen, how the Assemblies has many, many unofficial policies and how dominionism is explicitly promoted unofficially:
( The 'written law' versus the 'oral law' of the Assemblies, from an ex-pastor )

There is also interesting confirmation of a major danger-sign of abusive practices--in a statement by the ousted pastor, there's info regarding an official Assemblies church bylaw that states that persons ousted from the church must be shunned even by family members:
( From Robert J. Lifton's writings on thought reform: 1. ENVIRONMENT CONTROL. Now demonstrated for you by Assemblies leadership )

Even other dominionist news organs have been targeted by the Assemblies when info critical of them was printed. When Agape Press reported on the NY scandal and quoted an ACLJ lawyer as noting this was an "epidemic problem" in certain Assemblies regional districts (Agape Press is the news wing of the American Family Association, and ACLJ is the American Center for Law and Justice, a dominionist legal group--and the lawyer in question was, at least at the time of writing, an Assemblies member himself (so you know it's bad when fellow dominionists are pointing this out), the head of the Assemblies literally accused their fellow dominionist newscasters of being agents of the Enemy:
( Assemblies leader flames AFA reporter. Dominionist Catfight! )
All in all, this should be *quite* interesting to those of us researching corruption in the very denomination that invented neopente dominionism in the first place.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY scumfux)

I've always found these things as entertaining as they are horrific.




*edit* Be advised as this link takes you to the Chick Tracts page, and it's been suggested that I let everyone know as some people might not want to be included in the 'hits' list.