CRAZY CONTROVERSIAL CLERGY (The New Age of False Prophets)

As we subsist in an era of new internet capabilities and self promotion, we’re getting to learn just how bizarre many people driven by religion are in the nation. Very odd church leaders are trying to force their political views down the throats of the public, and it's coming from a place of anger, hysteria, or its motivated by monetary, or even political gain. What has been a part of our reality for centuries are mentally unstable people, false prophets, or con men who immerse and empower themselves with religion, and aggressively enforce their interpretations on society. Combine that with the internet and you have where we are now. We are entering a new era of false prophets. The new breed of false prophets are getting innovative, more ambitious, craftier and more deceptive than ever. Below are a few fanatical reverends, slightly off the beat and track, preaching the wrong message in the name of God all over the web.

Reverend Manning is certifiably insane. With no sensible evidence to speak of other than contorted and misinterpreted scripture centuries before Obama's time, Reverend Manning is convinced President Obama is an emissary of evil that the Bible predicted. Religious clowns come forth and do this in every era: Anytime preachers start finger pointing and naming names of Antichrist's, or announcing prophecies it's usually trouble and they're always wrong. His vicious, jaw dropping and hateful rants on you tube are unprecedented. Because this pastor convinced himself Obama is evil, he's given himself license to say whatever hurtful thing he wants to say about Obama or his family, no matter how vicious, uncalled for, or appalling. Fortunately many people don’t take him seriously, or they find him extremely funny. Others are taken aback and deeply offended.One thing is definitely certain, he's getting attention and support.

Manning is one of the most dangerous types out there because you can't write him off as dumb; he has intellect and surprisingly debates things without proof or facts impressively. One can't exactly categorize him as a liar either, he mainly says things that are not researched, and aren't true, but he genuinely believes in his rhetoric, or at least seems to. He is one of those scary types that you can't seem to reason with when you disprove something to him. In all seriousness, this is a mental issue, and people buy into men like this because of the power of their conviction.

For instance, Manning sang a song of how Obama had a "steamy gay love affair". Manning thinks Obama personally recruited the "Obama girl". He insists Obama is a pimp and a "long legged mack daddy" because he walks and carries himself like a pimp. Not only does he assert Obama pimps women, Manning believes white people in particular are being "oppressed" by Obama and his policies. He also believes Obama wasn't born in this country like the Birthers and that Obama is a devil and part of an evil government conspiracy. Like several mentally off people, it doesn't matter to Manning; he doesn't seem to have a rational mind. Whatever you stick in Manning's hand, dagger or cotton ball, and no matter how credible or ridiculous, he'll use it to throw at Obama. He mixes legitimate concerns with absurd fiction, and it's all the same to him.

THINGS GENUINELY ENLIGHTENED PEOPLE WOULD NEVER DO

It's pretty easy to ascertain certain people are not appointed by a higher authority by what they do or say. In some of his clips, Manning calls Obama’s mother, a deceased person he doesn’t know, knows very little about and has never met, a white trash whore, and calls Obama’s father a drunken loser. He called Michelle Obama a very ugly woman, and called her a relative of King Kong, indifferent to the fact she is the mother of young children. Manning is too simple minded and brainwashed by his own fictitious rhetoric to realize he is the true offensive villain who is way out of line, and out of control. This reverend uses the N word, screams that black people are cursed and he doesn’t want to be one of them. And although Obama's family members have never done anything wrong, he thinks they're all evil losers---yet Manning happens to be an ex-con who abandoned his ex-wife and 2 young daughters, burglarized homes and spent 3 years in prison.

So called "Reverend" Manning commits countless infractions against Christian doctrine; judging, bearing false witness against someone, slandering, proliferating hate and anger, and he does it in the cloth under a crucifix before a church congregation. Manning is a venom spitting contradiction to the book he claims to adhere to. Ironically, Manning's Bible warns about fools and false prophets. And especially for Manning, the book of Mathew charges to stop trying to look for the splinter in your brother’s eye, when you can’t see the log in your own.

In one clip while commenting on disdain for his message, he compared himself to Jesus Christ and Christ's persecution. He likened Obama to the biblical character Barabas and himself to Christ. Manning is just another in a long history of disturbed, ambitious religious authorities that throw themselves before audiences, esteem themselves to be far more important than they actually are, claim to know who the Antichrist is amongst other outrageous claims based on biblical prophecy, and always come up wrong.

FOOLS FOLLOW FOOLS

The most confusing thing about James Manning is not James Manning; most sensible people already know what he is a minute into listening to him. What is cause for concern are the people sitting in his congregation, nodding their heads and applauding his sermons. And again, I don't take him seriously. I privately find his rants amusing. I have an eccentric sense of humor and it’s hard to offend me. My concern is toward the people sitting there before him cheering and saying "Amen". As he stands there berating black people, he himself is the worst kind of black person imaginable. Manning is educated but old, stupid, self loathing of his own blackness, overly opinionated and unchangeable. If you’re a person of class, integrity and honor, you are another representative of your race same as anyone else, and proof of the stupidity of racism and group generalizations.

False messengers always propagate the lies of stigmatization and categorization of groups, and down play the calling and responsibility of the individual. Unemployed white people with jail stints in trailer parks aren’t automatically in favor of the Lord by some preordained right, and decent black people walking the walk aren’t damned, cursed and trifling because some dolt insists it. Racial categorization is an age old lie and illusion. There is no damned race. Each person born into this world has an individual path, destiny and identity. We are not bound and regulated to expectations, groups and categories. Simple, unenlightened men think like that. Reverend Manning criticizes a group of people based on stereotypes and statistics, but removes responsibility and all memory of how a people got to where they are. Manning isn’t bright or intuitive enough to understand that he is insulting millions of good natured, law abiding people of color above is rhetoric, and his own intelligence.

As Manning stands there screaming hysterically that he doesn’t want to be an African American and Obama’s mother is a "trashy woman" and a whore, mysteriously there are nodding black faces sitting behind him and before him in his congregation. People are stupid; there will always be sheep for wolves in sheep clothing to herd. Manning is also starting to get help from various organizations. The saying, “One fool makes many” doesn’t quite say enough.

Pastor Terry Jones is the now infamous pastor that led an obnoxious public burning of the Qur’an. Jones is pastor of a small 50 member church, but his dimwitted, supercilious, and impulsive stunt managed to increase violent rioting at the UN, Islamic animosity toward Americans internationally, more polarization, and put our troops overseas in more danger amongst outraged people sick and tired of American disrespect, ignorance and condescension. Jones is living proof that we all, goon or genius, can be very influential and make a dramatic difference if we put our minds (whatever is there) to it---one way or another. This is without a doubt the era in which the American fools esteem themselves beyond their place, and take center stage with their causes and beliefs. Normally it wouldn’t be a big deal but with the help of modern capabilities, these people unable to calm their emotions and think things through cause very serious international ramifications.

I’m a firm believer in freedom of speech and expression, so I feel that Pastor Jones had every right to do what he did. I do believe however, that stupidity in this country is like zombie movies in which people can unwittingly become infected by their surroundings if they’re not careful. We have a strong responsibility to never let the stupidity over take us and keep ignorance suppressed in its place. We shouldn’t willingly give clowns news coverage or credence.

The Bible and Qu'ran have a kindred origin, patriarchs and foundation. A perpetrated religious war between cultures keeps the books as far apart as they currently are. I've read the Qur’an often and it isn’t a book of hate mongering. It also refers to Jesus and his teachings several times. Both books contain violence, but the violence isn't meant to inspire violence. To be fair in principle, the Qur’an is a book no Christian should find fault with, just as a Muslim should find no fault with the Bible because the fundamentals are the same. Staging a public burning of the Qur’an requires complete ignorance or misunderstanding of its contents. It’s a pointless action that serves no other purpose but to insult and enrage people of the Muslim faith.

AUDACIOUS RELIGIOUS HYPOCRISY

If Pastor Terry Jones knew anything about world history, and I’m assuming he doesn’t or has selective memory, he’d know that Christianity had just as much if not more wars, evil deeds, corruption, bloodshed and world atrocities attached to it. Christian fervor resulted in countless deaths and the stifling of social and scientific progression throughout the entire world for centuries. If he took this into consideration, he’d understand better that the religion Islam is not the enemy. There are many people and groups who will do things in the name of a religion, but they don’t represent all aspects and factions of the religion. The enemy is a much smaller band of organized Islamic extremists---NOT Islam.

People and groups sometimes categorize themselves under a certain faith, claim to fight for the ideals of that faith, but commit acts contrary to the ideals of that religion---kind of like Pastor Terry Jones. The Ku Klux Klan for example was a Christian organization whose members identified themselves as Christians. If more people thought like Jones, people wouldn’t be able to tell this difference between Christians, and evil groups of people who claim Christianity. Pastor Jones insulted millions of innocent, non violent people of the Muslim faith all over the world who have nothing to do with terrorism and he doesn't seem to understand that.

Terry Jones is another clergyman that isn’t intuitive enough to see past his own opinion. In his mind, his religious opinions are always right and he enables himself to judge and condemn others. It’s people like Jones that throw themselves into the equation and make already grave matters worse. How Pastor Jones thought burning Qu'ran's was a Christian act that would help the nation or the war on terror will remain a mystery.

Pastor Fred Phelps, Jr. is the patriarch of a family cult from the Westboro Baptist church (WBC). They’ve taken their loving message to the street that “God hates fags.” In order to drive their message home, the WBC members choose to hurt, insult and offend all who don't believe as they do with shocking chants, signs or statements.

The WBC church family cult blame tragic events on God’s wrath and picket with signs that thank God for dead soldiers. They’ve even picketed at funerals for soldiers with flabbergasted grieving relatives watching in disbelief and horror. They go to gay friendly events and scream at people telling them God hates them, they’re going to hell, and God hates America. The family goes on news programs and talk shows to tell people who and what God hates and why.

It's OK to believe that people need to change and take your message to the street, but the WBC does more than cross the line. To picket at funerals when people are grieving for their dead child is psychotic. How they see this as God’s work, one can only imagine.

The hate that this family emanates is the result of a severe brainwashing. Family cults most usually stay amongst their own, disassociate themselves with outsiders, and that's how the religious doctrine gets misconstrued and further cultivates their skewed point of view. They even have their children out picketing with them before they even know what their own beliefs are, and before they even know what homosexuality is.

I agree that mankind is lost in inequities and does need guidance, but we don't need judgmental entities of hate lost in man made dogma, insulting and pushing people toward a preferred way of living by terror.

It's true there are in fact things that the Bible says are wrong or that God detests, including same sex relations. This is still in debate and contested for this day and age. Regardless, the WBC themselves are also guilty of many other things that God finds unfavorable that they choose not to focus on. Several books mention various sins. The books read that God detests the sin, but it never says anything about God "hating" people who commit the sin. By the WBC's reasoning, God hates everyone including them because the Bible also says " for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God". Who are they to decide which sins or sinners God hates more? No, God doesn't hate [homosexuals], they do.

THE TRUTH ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY

My next sentiments may be met with much opposition, especially from religious thinkers. I expect it to some degree and I don't mind. Thousands of years of mental conditioning and institutionalization of idealogy will automatically set people on the defense. Very often and throughout history scripture is not interpreted through the wisdom of God, but by the limited understanding and reasoning of men.

Homosexuality wasn't understood by the heterosexual, conservative religious authority thousands of years ago. Instead of being aware that naturally some men and women are genuinely born homosexual, stunted man made religious thinking and interpretation has taught the world that some people wake up one day, decide to be gay, and that its evil. This simply isn't the truth. At this very moment there are distraught homosexual children, who realize they will always be homosexual, committing suicide because of their shame and inability to change who they are. It isn't an act or a decision. Some get abused and bullied by other children, and some get disowned by their family. Many have to live through shame, judgement, and disappointment hurled onto them. Some homosexuals are blessed to have loving, understanding families that don't judge them, but not all of them luck out like that. It's a rough road for many, its frowned upon by most of society, and it's ignorant to believe people who can be heterosexual choose to be homosexual because they prefer it.

The book Leviticus in the Old Testament talks of sexual do's and dont's. The problem we have is that people just don't know how to interpret ancient religious law and apply it. Also, few people take the time to be a true student of the faith they claim and study additional scripture and history that predate Christianity, that explains the origin of certain ideologies. One of the biggest problems in religion today is ignorance. People blindly adhere to scripture as infallible, study words and know nothing about its authorship, but I'll save that for a future hub.

In many ancient civilizations, men would sleep with other men, gay or straight for a variety of reasons. Also in many ancient cultures, men would ritualistically sleep with young boys, and there were wild orgies in which anything went in pagan aristocratic societies. In many cases, the psychology behind it was different. It wasn't necessarily a life choice or a sexual identity, it was fornication. The true intention of the book Leviticus primarily meant to discourage sexual perversion. It's written from a heterosexual perspective, and it's basically saying (already presuming heterosexuality), that it's wrong to sleep with other men, close blood relatives or animals just for empty kicks. These early laws were written to preserve order and strengthen a moral code of ethics. It was never intended to outlaw and discredit genuine sexual identities. Yes, I'm sure there are many people who fool around with the same sex just for fun or experimentation, but there are also many people born genuinely homosexual and that is who they are. Their sexual identity and preference is as real and unchangeable to them as yours is to you. The inability to understand another person's mind, heart, identity and right to be who they innately just are, followed by judgment of them is the greater sin and ineptitude.

There's genuine love and scrupulousness, and there is sexual perversion whether you're gay or straight. People have gone back and forth on this issue, the argument is pretty primitive and stupid and I don't care to go into it further.

THERE WILL BE NATURAL DISASTERS

The WBC is partially correct, there may be an increase in natural disasters. It's because the world is in a state of immense imbalance. Mankind is like a virus that is constantly working against nature. There's power in both positive and negative energy and energy doesn't go away or dissipate. We don't understand the earth, why we're here, or our role in nature so we've allowed a small entity to define our existence. The world's imbalance, hatred and inequity is pumped into the universe and will result in negative consequences. Through repulsive greed and irresponsibility, we attack the earth with our pollution, abuse of resources and mismanagement of the earth. Global warming, climate change, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunami's, earth quakes and natural disasters will continue to rise. War and death is yet another self inflicted expectation to come from our feuding energies.

The Bible was a very edited book throughout world history. Talk of an angry God that will punish the world and swallow up it's inhabitants is a slightly off adherence to an old mythology, but partially correct. The world's transgressions will be its undoing. Unwittingly the WBC members are adding to the world's imbalance and don't realize it. In our troubled society, we do need people charged up, aggressive and active. However, we don't need people trapped in a bubble, angry and active about the wrong things.

I had to add Harold Camping to the list. Camping is the preacher with a radio ministry who keeps creating dates when the world will end and mysteriously keeps finding people to run around handing out flyers about it each time. Truly Amazing.

Camping used to adhere to traditional Christian doctrine. Members of my family used to listen to his radio station, Family Radio. However, his personal obsession with the second coming of Christ and the end of the world has quickly spawned into a new cult with many partisans.

Camping recieved lots of donations from people sending his radio station their life savings in complete belief the world will end. There is often a very human agenda behind even the most absurd declarations.

Strangely, his followers claim Christianity, but there are several biblical passages explaining that it is impossible for any man to know the end of times. The Bible says even the Angels don't know. It also warns people not to be deceived by false prophets. It really couldn't be any clearer. When Jesus' disciples asked him when the end of time would be it explicitly reads, "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh" [Matthew 25:13]. Miraculously though, these people that call themselves Christian, disregarded what Christ is supposed to have said verbatim, and instead give validity to this man's formulated date who has already been wrong nearly 20 years prior. Men like Camping very easily capitalize on people's ignorance of scripture, naivety and rely on the interpretations of decievers.

Camping strayed from traditional Christian ideology and used his programs to push his new age interpretation of scripture and end of the world message. Fear and terror is an age old tactic that always seems to work.

Camping’s new end of the world date is right around the corner, May 21, 2011. I guess we’ll find out very soon, again.

Sometimes people follow these types because there's a spiritual void and people gravitate toward strong religious authorities. Many of these men preach things that are good and universally acceptable, but furtively there message is contorted and mixed with a lot of bad as well.

I always use a "bleach in water" analogy to describe this: When someone's dying of thirst, they're driven by their thirst, and they'll be receptive to the nearest person offering them water. If that person serves a tall glass of cold water with a drop of bleach in it, the thirsty man may not even be able to tell, and he'll continue drinking it. Continuing to drink water with drops of bleach in it may have deadly long term effects, but it may not harm a man initially; one can get used to it, and trust it. And if its mostly cold water, one could learn to be refreshed by it and never acknowledge or detect it's dangerous toxicity. In this same manner, some preachers preach the word of God with convincing eloquence, and sound reasoning. All too often however, some men of the cloth are able to incorporate a spiritually poisonous rhetoric with their message and keep adherents loyally ingesting the whole package.

Many false prophets are extremely charismatic or convincing and influential who do this very well. They appear as strong spiritual authorities. These people push their opinions and false messages veiled in the ultimate truth, sell it, and make it all go down smoothly as God's word. It isn't from the Supreme Consciousness, it's selfish control with a very human agenda.

This quandary of questionable clergyman is nothing new; for thousands of years, several mentally sick people ironically have become religious leaders or zealots. There will always be religious kooks. When strange people immersed in religion tap into “the spirit”, foolish partisans are quick to assume it’s coming from their God. It doesn't come from The Light at all. Man can be a very dangerous creature with deep psychological issues. People pick what they want to believe out of Christianity and run with it. Some people choose to channel a jealous and vengeful God of the Old Testament and scare people with hell, and God’s wrath. For centuries people have used the mysticism of the Bible and religion to serve their human thirst for judgment and condemnation, or for hope and sanctity.

There’s a twisted man made ambition that drives people to judge and convict other people’s sins or what we perceive as sins. Some feel they need to aggressively reprimand and redirect other peoples lives toward what they feel is right. That’s not what the fundamentals of religious dogma meant to instill in people. Less contaminated, ancient philosophy that predates most current major religions focused more on a constant individual struggle to be whole, balanced and closer to the Light. Instead we're finding that many people electing themselves as spiritual leaders are unbalanced, angry and project their frustrations on the rest of humanity. That imbalance causes a frenetic yearning for control. Others are business men and televangelist who have contorted ancient doctrine with capitalism. There are scores of false prophets and church leaders who don't have the answers, and provide an unenlightened, earthly version of ultimate truth.

All people have an individual struggle to stay away from negative energy and inequity. It's easy for men to judge the obvious forms of darkness in others like murders and rape, but there are many other forms that are just as toxic to the soul. All forms of bigotry, racism, hatred, offensiveness, and even aggressive religious fanaticism all eat at the soul, cause unhappiness and imbalance just the same.

What's important to remember is that men that speak for God, aren't God. Men are often flawed and encased in their own opinions. These people don't realize they are steering off course whenever they become too forceful, obnoxious, political or judgmental.

Organized religion is a very dangerous weapon that's been shaping the way people think for centuries. Religion is often twisted into a fixed perspective designed by men and we won't be free from its grip on society anytime soon. Regardless, everyone is entitled to their own beliefs. The next time you support a preacher who is saying things that are obviously incorrect or mean-spirited, the least thing you could do is own it for the reprehensible hate that it is, don't drag the concept of God into the equation.