Shouldn't This Bother You?

Ponder this thought.

There is nothing righteous about a building. Most people agree that the building where people meet is not the church. Yet, when you point to a religious building with a steeple on top, and ask, "What is that?" They all say, "It's a church."

Last month, there was a news report about the sale of Lakewood Church, which is pastored by Joel Osteen and his wife. Like many of you, I was under the impression that the 100 million dollars they borrowed a few years ago was to purchase the former basketball stadium. Turns out, they are actually leasing the building.

Hungry for cash, the city of Houston has hired appraisal firms to figure out how much the building that houses Lakewood Church could sell for. Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church leases the former Compaq Center from the City of Houston, and paid the $10 million 30-year lease up front, in 2003. That left a loan of 90 million to renovate the stadium for Church purposes.

The purpose of this article is not to bash the Osteens. Their concept of operating and running a large church is simply a traditional business model that most churches in American have been using, since the early 80's.

The purpose of this article however, is to shine a light on Church issues. The issue here is the fact that the Church operates on a secular business model, and has for years. That is to say that a smart business normally, if ever, uses its own money to fund a project.

The modern day organized church is kept in motion and built largely by money. It is impressive buildings, big fancy signs, strategic locations, television ads, yellow page ads, radio spots, salaried professionals, fancy suits, fancy cars, fancy homes, expensive audio systems, automatic retractable video screens, and million dollar family recreation centers. To manage it all, it takes massive amounts of cash and a lot of uninformed church members.

Like a business, to fund these projects, Churches in America borrow the money from the bank sometimes incurring high interest and debt. This debt, along with the interest, is passed to the consumer. I want you to read the following very carefully. In the case of most churches, these sometimes multi-million dollar loans, or the cost of building these idols and golden calfs, is passed to the members or attendees of the "church". In other words, you are paying the loan with interest. Just a couple of centuries ago this would have been called, a Church tax. However, church leaders for decades have been successful with mixing (Law and Grace). The New Testament Church today calls it tithe and offering. Now, you know why so many "church leaders" are constantly bribing, begging and pimping its members and fans for more money. Somebody has to pay off the loan. (deacons and church administrators know what I say is true)

The early New Testament church operated differently. It ran on power. It ran on passion. They survived because they understood and taught as Jesus taught them, that they were the Church, not a building.

How is this possible, and why does the Church as a whole participate in such deception? Every CEO knows that large, impressive buildings attract people. They also give the illusion that the Spirit of the Lord lives there. If we were honest, many of us attend or, at one time, attended these golden calfs for this very reason.

These idols we call churches, with their polished granite countertops, expensive lobbies, and marble floors are fancy for a reason. They provide the atmosphere of wealth, so that there is the feeling of security. Let's be honest. How many of you would still come if you didn't have all of the extras. No paid professional to bring the music. No nurseries, date night, pizza parties and youth groups. Without all the trappings, without the pomp and show, who would attend?

Shouldn't this bother you?

What the church has done and, what the church continues to do, is follow and hire CEO's rather than pastors. The church has elected to "have church" rather than be the church. Like the people of Israel, the American church would rather have its golden calf (the building) as its god, rather than Jesus. Its marketing campaigns, committees, budget analysis, secretaries, building administrative duties... Oh My! What a business it has become.

2010, Barack Obama and the Antichrist Agenda

by G. Craige Lewis

When we first heard that a black man may become president of the United States for the first time, many were sold at that moment. His voting record didn't matter. His agenda wasn't even considered. "Does he go to church?" That would answer the only question that most black Americans would pose. If he goes to church and is black, then he should win because it's about time we had some representation on that level, right? It did not matter what he voted for or against in the Senate. As long as he is dark-skinned rather than white, he was the only choice, for many.

If you are engaged to be married, and your spouse-to-be hits you every time they are angry, do you expect wedding vows to change them? Or, if they are in debt because they make bad financial decisions, will a wedding ceremony change that? In spite of these signs, people marry everyday expecting change once the ceremony is over. Even though their future spouses have shown them a pattern of behavior over time, people still want what they want, so they will take a chance on a marriage that they know had little chance of working to begin with. Their philosophy is to marry and then pray to God for change, rather than seeing God in the signs, and avoiding marriage altogether. I guess to them, God is only needed after they have what they want.

This is very selfish, and yet, this is what the American people have done with the office of the President. We have voted in a president because we wanted a black man, or a different man, and we felt that once he is in, our prayers will change him. But the bottom line here is that he is the same as he was before the election, and will not change because of your prayers. His purpose is to do what he is doing. He is in office because the powers that be needed someone to look different, as a poster boy for "change". Who better to strip America of it's morality, than a representative of the most immoral group of people in the nation? Don't get mad at me, the numbers show that Blacks are the most immoral group in America and that we could care less about morality, when it comes to looking good. The statistics on this matter show that we have the highest HIV rate, incarceration rate, drop-out rate, STD rate, abortion rate, murder rate, teen pregnancy rate, single parent rate, homosexual and lesbian rate, etc. This is why, as Christians, black people still ignore his immoral agenda for what they wanted. I know pastors that lost members for warning them about this man. We at EX Ministries lost a bunch of engagements and DVD sales because we took a moral position during the election. Not to vote for McCain, because I didn't vote for him either, but just to stand for morality and truth. We as a people are in trouble because Barack Obama was able to bring our inconsistent spiritual behavior to the forefront, and show the world what a Carnal Christian that doesn't honor his God looks like.

This is a man on a mission. What's his mission? To free the homosexuals and lesbians in America, and make their lifestyles accepted by all, with no moral code of conduct from God interfering with it. He wants to silence the church and make them accept an antichrist agenda. In spite of this always being in his plan, pastors and preachers marched for him and voted him in. They led their congregations into the voting booths, and even the ones that had reservations about him and God-given visions of his sinful agenda, were too afraid to stand against a man that could cause their offerings to dwindle down if they didn't support him.

This is a serious matter because if you haven't heard already, our president has named the month of June "Gay, Lesbian, Bi Sexual, and Transgender month" in America. For the first time in history, a president has deemed sexually deviant behavior as normal, and given them a month to celebrate. No president in history would have ever done this because this is something that is detrimental to the very fabric of our society. Bill Clinton, or even Hilary Clinton, who are both very liberal, would have never done anything like this because who wants to go down in the history books as the one who condoned transsexuals and gave sexual deviants a month to celebrate? This was the greatest setup of all time and of course, the black man was the pawn. No matter how evil you may feel Bush and others were, they would have NEVER been responsible for something this wild. This is an outrage and yet, no one is talking about it.

What does an open sexuality month do for our country? Well, expect in the coming month of June 2010, to see public displays of kissing, hugging, and all kinds of sexual celebrations. Expect your children to be taught in their schools about accepting the LGBT agenda because their president said to. Expect every park, amusement center, you name it, to be crowded as they offer special discounts to LGBT couples. Gay men parading around proudly, lesbian women, bi- sexual couples consisting of 3 or 4 partners and transgender people that have created an ambiguous image which cannot be put in a male or female category. I don't know if Jesus will crack the sky before June 2010, but I know that if He doesn't it will be soon after because, this is the worst thing to happen in American history, and it happened at the hands of a man that has voted in-favor of this agenda since he was in the senate. This was not a secret, yet it was overlooked and ignored by those that wanted him in office no matter what!

Also, expect to see a lot of pastors, business owners, etc. arrested for trying to stop these celebrations from entering their places of business or worship. Expect lawsuits and public outcries from those that want this agenda in places where they are not wanted. You see, when the office of the president gives the approval, you must comply! We won't be able to stop it now because it's a done deal. And during this month, any teacher or educator can proudly teach the LGBT agenda without parental consent, just like they can teach black history in February. Expect pictures on the walls of the schools, television shows and talk shows being flooded with this celebration. Just like black history month, immorality now has a month and they will demand to be allowed any and everywhere to celebrate this great accomplishment. WOW. What have you done, people? (Those of you that voted for him! I didn't.)

His wife said she would do this and, she also said Obama would do it before he was ever elected. I posted the video for many to see and yet, many that saw the video, still voted for him. Michelle Obama said the church will be silenced by her husband and yet, Bishops, pastors, and black leaders that are supposed to be saved ignored it, and now our children must endure it. How selfish are our preachers today that they would back a man with a homosexual agenda? What must God think of these bishops and pastors that call themselves our leaders? This is a shame before God, and yet our world is ignoring it and paying more attention to the death of a transgender performer than they are the greatest tragedy on paper to strike the American people.

All I have to say at this point is, when you see the gay couples and when you see the public acceptance of these behaviors right in your face, just remember that YOU voted for this change and you got what you voted for. May God have mercy on America. This is truly the beginning of the end for us.

Come Quickly Lord,

G. Craige Lewis has been ministering to youth for over 15 years. He has been gifted with a ministry for youth as well as informing parents about the plans that the enemy has for their children. He has a very unique ministry and ministers to hundreds of thousands of young people each year. He travels around the world, teaching the Kingdom of God and exposing the plans that the enemy has devised for the church of God.

He has devoted his life to reaching young people as well as all people that are in need of strategies to take the enemy head on. His straight-forward type of ministry is very captivating to the secular as well as the Christian audiences. God has given him great insight on young people and the plan of the enemy to rob our youth of their parentalguidance. He is directed by the Holy Spirit to reach out to those that have been lead astray by our cultures embracing of evil and perversions and also to attack the enemy's invasion of the media and music.

Was Michael Jackson channeling a god?

I wonder how many people knew that Michael Jackson summoned the spirit of Aleister Crowley (satanist/bisexual) and liberachi or liberace (said to be homosexual). Here is an interesting article a came across by Chris Lee. It appears that a great many of the rich and famous are known to do this. Keep in mind, the so-called gods in which they channel.

It’s no secret that Michael Jackson went to his grave in search of sleep. The pop icon’s death was linked to his use of the powerful anesthetic propofol and sedatives, according to the autopsy report.

Less scrutinized, however, are the circumstances that led up to Jackson’s chronic sleeplessness. Turns out that toward the end of his life, Jackson burned the midnight oil in large part because he said he was channeling God and didn’t want to affront his creator or miss out on divine inspiration by clocking off too early.

“He’d say, ‘When the phones stop ringing at night, that’s when I can have really, really great thoughts. I’m not being interrupted. I can just be one with God. And then the ideas would come to me,’” recalled Travis Payne, associate director/choreographer of “This Is It,” the sold-out series of 50 comeback concerts at London’s O2 Arena that Jackson was preparing for at the time of his death June 25. “In his mind, if he went to sleep, he would miss those ideas.”

To be sure, nearly $400 million in debt without having toured for a dozen years at the time of his comeback, there were also financial and personal pressures associated with “This Is It” (a movie made up of rehearsal footage for that tour, “Michael Jackson’s This Is It,” reaches theaters Wednesday for a limited two-week engagement).

As well, to hear it from the show’s director Kenny Ortega (“High School Musical,” “Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: The Best of Both Worlds Tour”), Jackson had put his all into every detail in the production — including the levitating orb that would float from the performer’s hand and immolate over the audience, the bulldozer that would drive on-stage during “Earth Song” and the image of Africa’s Victoria Falls that Jackson wanted projected on a 90-foot high-definition video screen during another segment of the concerts.

A notorious insomniac since 1997, Jackson’s difficulty falling asleep took on crisis proportions in the final weeks leading up to the concerts – a period when it was not uncommon for the performer to wrap rehearsal as late as 1 a.m. and then call his collaborators such as Ortega or the concerts’ associate director-choreographer Travis Payne between 3:30 and 5 a.m. to brainstorm ideas for the stage show.Such phone conversations were usually prefaced by an innocent – if rhetorical — greeting: “You up?”

If the King of Pop was awake at that hour, his inner circle knew it was usually for one reason.

“He used the word ‘channeling,’ ” said Ortega. “He would say when the information was coming, when the idea was coming, it was a blessing. And he couldn't turn his back on a blessing. These were important ideas that were nurturing his work.

Ortega continued: “I would say to him, ‘Can’t you make a little pact with your higher power to have this put on a shelf for you until a later date? We need you healthy. We need you nourished.’ He’d laugh at me and say no. ‘When they come, you have to be ready for them and you have to take advantage of them when they’re there. Or they won’t be yours.’”

-by, Chris Lee