Horror Stories From Christian Group Homes For Troubled Youths
Via Mother Jones, a look into the networks of unregulated, fundamentalist Baptist troubled-teen boarding homes active across the South and Midwest. Worst summer vacation ever…ex-residents describe programs of brainwashing through violent punishment, sensory deprivation, lack of contact with the outside world, and memorization of the bible:
New Beginnings describes itself as a character-building facility for “troubled teens,” and what Jeannie Marie heard in church that day was that this might be a place for her daughter to heal. While jogging earlier that year, the 17-year-old (whom I’ll call Roxy) had been pulled into a vehicle and assaulted by a group of men. Since then, she had begun acting up at home, as well as sneaking out and drinking. Two weeks after seeing the girls in church, Jeannie Marie and her husband left Roxy in McNamara’s care with the promise that she would receive counseling twice a week and stay at New…
Jesus Antichrist: Does Joel’s Army Actually Worship Satan?
A central theme in Christian eschatology is the rise of the Antichrist. This Antichrist is supposed to trick millions (even billions) into worshiping him and, according to many on the Christian right, establish a one world government.
What better disguise for the ultimate false messiah to deceive the world than Jesus?
As I posted earlier, the Dominionist Joel’s Army movement believes less in feeding the poor and visiting those in prison like the Biblical Jesus taught than in slaughtering unbelievers and taking over all the countries of the world militarily and politically. The following video examines, from a more traditional Christian perspective, the possibility that Joel’s Army and the Dominionist movement are in fact the forces of the Antichrist, that the spirits that fill them are demons, and that the god they worship is actually Satan in disguise.
Rick Perry’s Ties to Joel’s Army
The Prophet Joel as imagined by Michelangelo
Glenn Wright wrote recently in the Examiner (before Gov. Perry officially declared his presidential candidacy):
If Governor Rick Perry (R) of Texas runs for president of the United States, he will have one of the most unusual and specific bases for his platform of any candidate in many decades—the spiritual visions of the ancient Hebrew prophet Joel.
Perry has jumped on the “Joel’s Army” bandwagon, claiming in his promotional message for his The Response prayer and fasting event in Houston in August: “Some problems are beyond our power to solve, and according to the Book of Joel, Chapter 2, this historic hour demands a historic response.”
The language of Joel 2, written centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ, and referring to a time after the return of the Hebrews from their Babylonian exile, has been reinterpreted by some Christian groups to be a prophecy referring to the “end time”…
Joel’s Army and Omnicide in the Name of God
If you’ve never heard of omnicide this article on Daily Kos from a few years back is helpful:
Yesterday, we revealed that John Hagee’s church is confirmedly within the “Joel’s Army” movement — a group of the “most extreme of the extreme” of neopentecostal dominionists, who believe they are part of a “third pentecost” designed to raise a group of divine ubermenschen to “name and claim” the world for their theology.
One of the parts of their theology that is very rarely discussed — save by a few of us researchers — is that they are one of the very few groups on the planet to literally have a theological mandate for not only genocide but near omnicide — both pre- and post-Tribulation. Combined with the known use of coercive tactics and the decidedly unique interpretations of Biblical verses that claim they’re part of an end-time army of “God Warriors “… it’s not exaggeration to state this…
Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare … But It Could Never Happen Here
A very disturbing bit of reading from from Al Jazeera during the current American election season. Paul Rosenberg writes in Al Jazeera:
Prior to 9/11, the Taliban government in Afghanistan did not register very much on American radar screens, with one notable exception: when it blew up two colossal images of the Buddha in Bamiyan province in early 2001. But destruction of treasured artifacts isn’t just limited to the Taliban.
There’s a right-wing politico-religious presence centred in the US, but with a global reach, engaging in similar practises, destroying religious and cultural artifacts as a key aspect of its ideology of “strategic level spiritual warfare” (SLSW).
Until recently a fringe evangelical movement, warned against as deviant, “spiritual warfare” is rapidly positioning itself within America’s mainstream political right. It’s well past time for political journalists to start covering what this movement is up to.
Saudi Arabian Women Protest Driving Ban
Jason Burke writes in the Guardian:
At just after 10 o’clock on Friday morning Maha al-Qahtani swapped places with her husband, Mohammed, and took the wheel of the family car.
For the next 50 minutes, she drove through the Saudi capital, along the six-lane King Fahd Road, through Cairo Square, down the upmarket Olaya Street with its shopping malls, Starbucks, Apple store and boutiques.
“No one tried to stop us. No one even looked,” the 39-year-old civil servant said. “We drove past police cars but had no trouble.”
In fact, the biggest problem for Qahtani was her husband sitting next to her in the family Hummer. “He kept telling me to slow down or speed up. He was very fussy,” she said.
This is Saudi Arabia, the only country in the world that bans women from driving motor vehicles.
The Incredibly Tiny Christian Fundamentalist Universe
Maybe those 21 May 2011 “End of the World” folks were right, and only their tiny universe disappeared? Jim Walker writes on NoBeliefs.com:
Incredible as it may seem, many Christians today believe that a god created the universe approximately 6000 years ago. That means that everything in it, planets, stars, moons, comets, and even light itself, must have originated at the time (or after) the Great Creation.
Consider that no energy or matter in the universe can travel faster than the speed of light. If you take the speed-of-light back in time 6000 years to the point of the alleged Creation, you get a spherical radius of only around 6000 light-years. This means that a 12,000 diameter light-year bubble represents everything that could possibly happen or exist within the time range of Christian chronology. Consider that the entire Christian universe cannot measure larger than a single average galaxy in the known universe! The…
The End Of The World: It’s In The Numbers (Video)
Via Modern Mythology:
Or maybe some of us only wish it was…
Let’s Punk the Rapture
Fun idea from MLKSHK that Gizmodo is making a contest out of. Mat Honan writes on Gizmodo:
A lot of people think the Rapture is coming May 21. It’s not. But assuming your pets are okay, here’s a prank we’d like you to pull. We call it Rapture Bombing.
On May 21, get a bunch of your old clothes in full sets of pants, shirts, and shoes. Bonus points if you leave accessories like an old watch or sunglasses to go with them. Lay them out as if people have suddenly disappeared, leaving only the clothes behind. Be creative.
Take pictures. Post them on our Facebook page, or tweet them with the hashtag #rapturebomb.
We’ll run the best ones; our favorites will win prizes. (Don’t get too excited—we’re talkin’ iPhone cases and shit.) And if you make your local news? You’ll be Giz’s hero for the day.
Here are some more post-”Rapture” photos.
ChristWire: ‘Coachella is a Festival of Disease and Sin. Your Children Most Likely Will Die.’
Coachella 2010. Photo: Dmgultekin (CC)
Certainly Christwire is pulling no punches with this “report”. (Did they have Jack Chick ghost-write this article? : ) If you’ve attended (or not) free feel to comment.
Coachella is a concert event for neo hippies, naked beer drinkers and drug addicts. Each year the event grows in numbers and so do its cases of rape, murder and cases of teenage runways. No were else are so many drugs taken, orgies performed and victimaztion of America’s young daughters.
Take a look at what happen to Kings of Leon when they played Coachella. Satan himself entered the body of their lead singer.
What Goes On? Drugs, rape and music. What a perfect combination! The festival is a huge mask to make it seem like it is about music, but it is only about sex. Boys use drugs to make girls pass out or to make them not have the ability to fight back…
Christian Fundamentalists Making Road Trip To The End Of The World
Jessica Ravitz tries to find out why, for CNN:
If you thought you had less than three perfectly healthy months to live, what would you do? Would you travel? Spend time with loved ones? Appreciate the joy life has given you?
Or would you ditch your kids and grandkids, join strangers in a caravan of RVs and travel the country warning people about the end of the world?
If you’re Sheila Jonas, that’s exactly what you’d do.
“This is so serious, I can’t believe I’m here,” says Jonas, who’s been on the road since fall. Like her cohorts, she’s “in it ’til the end,” which she believes is coming in May…
Pat Robertson Says Legalize Marijuana (Video)
Maybe Robertson realized that a substantial portion of his audience consists of insomniac potheads. Amen, Preacher. Pass the doobies like collection plates. From LA Times blog:
Westboro Baptist Church Protests At Comic Con: ‘God Hates Nerds’
I have got to get one of those “God Hates Nerds” signs for the front door of my fraternity house. One of the new arrivals at this year’s Comic-Con is Kansas’s Westboro Baptist Church. The group arrived in San Diego yesterday and held a protest against nerds, and their gay-for-Batman ways:
They have turned comic book characters into idols, and worship them they do! Isaiah 2:8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made…
The destruction of this nation is imminent – so start calling on Batman and Superman now, see if they can pull you from the mess that you have created with all your silly idolatry.”
Peanut Butter: Proof Evolution Doesn’t Exist
Fundamentalist Christians’ newest real-world example that shows conclusively that evolution is a lie: peanut butter. Don’t know how the unbelievers will be able to answer this one.
Does Jesus Hate Klingons More Than Captain Kirk?
The video you’ve been waiting for … if what you’ve been waiting for is a low-budget version of Star Trek in which the Enterprise crew are evangelicals.
From Everything Is Terrible:
American Family Association Calls For Stoning Of Whale
It sounds like a joke, yet isn’t; leading fundamentalist Christian organization American Family Association is calling for the stoning of a whale that killed a trainer at Orlando’s SeaWorld two weeks ago. From Huffington Post:
The American Family Association, a religious right group, is urging that Tillikum (Tilly), the killer whale that killed a trainer at SeaWorld Orlando, be put down, preferably by stoning. Citing Tilly’s history of violent altercations, the group is slamming SeaWorld for not listening to Scripture in how to deal with the animal.
However, the group is going further and laying the blame for the trainer’s death directly at the feet of Chuck Thompson, the curator in charge of animal behavior. According to Scripture, if one of your animals kills a second time because you didn’t kill it after it claimed its first human victim, this time you die right along with your animal…”the ox shall be stoned,…
Christian Leader: ‘Satan’ has had ‘Free Reign’ in Haiti
From The Raw Story:
The head of a Christian child sponsorship program says Haiti is a nation “that you can literally feel the evil in.”Dr. Wesley Stafford, president and CEO of Compassion International, told Focus on the Family that Haiti was a disaster before the earthquake ever struck.
Haiti … has been a disaster in almost every way long before this ever struck. And it is a nation, between you and me, I guess, that Satan has had absolutely free reign in that nation. And while the missionary effort and the church effort has been enormous, this is a nation that you can literally feel the evil in it.
But then as the church lives out its faith, having come through this deep, deep valley, my great prayer is that there will be a great wave of healing and change in the nation of Haiti … that could only come about through an interruption…
Gay Teen Worried He Might Be Christian
Via the Onion:
LOUISVILLE, KY—At first glance, high school senior Lucas Faber, 18, seems like any ordinary gay teen. He’s a member of his school’s swing choir, enjoys shopping at the mall, and has sex with other males his age. But lately, a growing worry has begun to plague this young gay man. A gnawing feeling that, deep down, he may be a fundamentalist, right-wing Christian.
“I don’t know what’s happening to me,” Faber admitted to reporters Monday. “It’s like I get these weird urges sometimes, and suddenly I’m tempted to go behind my friends’ backs and attend a megachurch service, or censor books in the school library in some way. Even just the thought of organizing a CD-burning turns me on.”
Added Faber, “I feel so confused.”
The openly gay teen, who came out to his parents at age 14 and has had a steady boyfriend for the past seven months, said he…
