Sex, Death & Moola in the Holy City

The stuff they don't tell us, eh?

They want us to think it's all about the crazy Muslims - but it's alway, always about making the filthy rich even filthier -- and if a few people have to die, well ...

From the CBC:
Secret 1979 documents shed new light on why Joe Clark broke Jerusalem embassy promise
Cabinet grappled behind closed doors with 'Jerusalem question'

• "For the first time, documents confirm the preoccupation of the Conservative government with the consequences for the Bell Canada contract in Saudi Arabia, of its decision to move the Embassy to Jerusalem," said Stein. "It appears that economics trumped politics." .......
• ."A Minister suggested that the Jewish community would find offensive the report's failure to acknowledge that Israel has established its capital in West Jerusalem since 1949.

The upshot: Bell Canada has steadily expanded into a monster dictator and Joe Clark quickly became "Joe Who".

But all that was back before Israel figured out that wooing evangelical leaders would be the best - and most lucrative - way to get the job done: 15 Christian Leaders That Make More Money Getting Out Of Bed Than You’ll Make All Year

I find it fascinating that an evangelist with a name like Charles Swindoll isn't on that list. He does have a convincing way of obtaining massive donation support for his vast organization. He convinces people that whatever they give, the Lord will double.

Now, I'm a firm believer in belief, and in having a giving spirit, but Jesus managed to get his message out without donation campaigns, didn't he?

Nevertheless, as I said in an earlier post, Israel's desert has indeed blossomed - into an evangelical gold mine - what with the potential for glorious vacations at Bible theme parks, providing fun in the sun for the whole family. So it's easy to see how Israel was able entice those crazy evangelists into abetting the campaign to capitalize (on) Jerusalem.

Here's something else that barely gets a mention:
From the Edmonton Journal:

• Trump signed the same waiver as his predecessors, Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, to keep the embassy in Tel Aviv for now. White House officials said that was unavoidable because it would take several years to move embassy employees to a new building in Jerusalem.
• Also, the Saudi royal family has sharply criticized Trump’s decision, which some officials said could help the credibility of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman among his fellow Arabs. That could mitigate perceptions that the crown prince has grown too cozy with Kushner, with whom he has cultivated a close relationship.

Smoke and Mirrors, my friends, Smoke and Mirrors.

Israel and the Christians are no doubt well aware of the mendacity involved. Maybe the only difference now is that this is the first time the media - and Christian leaders - have played up the issue much more loudly, consistently, and provocatively. Jentezen Franklin called Trump's action "a significant spiritual shift in the universe".

Is this nothing more than an evil ploy to provoke the Palestinians to another Intifada, thereby creating an excuse to bomb them off the face of Jesus' property?

In the minds of the evangelists it's indeed the property of Jesus and the Apostles and, oh yes, the God of the Jews, who desperately need to get onto the Jesus track as soon as possible to avoid landing in a much hotter place than Palestine. But in the meantime, they can work together to own most of the world's moola.

You know that statement "You can't take it with you"?  See, that's what I don't understand about the Christians wanting to be so wealthy, knowing full well that a rich man can't get into Heaven. Oh sure, they convince themselves that they're doing good with the money, but Jesus did way more good without it, and even warned against the love of it. Which strongly suggests that none of them really believes in Heaven, and that maybe it's just a way of keeping the poor donating in the hope of a reward when they die.

Did I say "maybe"?

In long run, it's hard to see how Israel can possibly come out on top of this, unless its leadership really is very un-Jewish, though very Zionist, in a wealthy realtor/casino-king kind of way.

Will the Jesus theme parks feature casinos, I wonder. You know, where the "Romans" can come and cast lots over the cloak of the pretend Jesus?

Billionaire Las Vegas Sands casino owner Sheldon Adelson -- who was a (the?) heavy in the mission to pressure Trump, and is a well-known kneecapper on the media and anybody else who crosses him -- might think that's a great idea.

Maybe they'll star Mary Magdalene in the role of prostitute. And somebody else in the role of Jezebel, complete with dogs eating her body. The combination of sex and violence is an extremely lucrative business, as you well know.

I knew you were wondering when I'd get to the sex part.

Kathie Lee Gifford Unashamedly Preaches the Gospel as NBC Deals With Disaster

She has Biblical grounds for explaining away her colleague's sexual sins.

• "No person is perfect in this world," she said. "Nobody is. We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, is what Scripture says."

Which reminds me:
When I was a Pentecostal kid we were expected to attend and perform at street meetings. My sister and I were really good singers, so that's what we did. But some others were expected to get into the middle of the circle and testify that accepting Jesus into your heart can change you forever - making you into a much better person.

One balmy Saturday evening, as we stood in a circle on a corner of the main drag, a recent convert held out her arms to the on-lookers and cried loudly, "You too can be saved and come short of the glory of God".

There was some embarrassment in our circle, because this newly-saved young woman had misquoted Paul's epistle to the Romans -- but I now see that she wasn't so far off base, according to Kathie Lee and her fellow followers of Jesus.

Not only can you have a good time sinning against your fellow humans, but you can do it without a worry, because all you have to do is get down on your knees at bedtime and ask God for forgiveness. Easy peasy, no harm done. Even a tiny child can say, ".. forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us".

I guess sexual and other devious transgressions are too difficult for some men to avoid no matter how much they love God, and no matter how long they've been fooling the public as mouthpieces for Jesus. In fact, it's so difficult -- and so common among evangelical leaders -- that Biblical reasons have had to be put forward to cast the blame elsewhere.

Yes, my friends, Jezebel is alive and well in the hearts of women who haven't accepted Jesus as their saviour - and possibly even some who have. She is causing God's best men to lose all control over their worst impulses.

• Jezebel is essentially a spirit of seduction that woos people into sexual immorality and idolatry. Jezebel comes to kill, steal and destory (sic) by tempting you and then escorting you, willingly, into immorality and idolatry. Revelation 2:20 clearly reveals what the spirit of Jezebel is and its sinister motives. Jesus said, “Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.”

Keep in mind, please, that Revelation is a record of somebody's hallucinations. There are words in red that we're supposed to read as being the words of Jesus himself but, if so, Jesus has done an about-face since floating up to Heaven.

In the Gospels, he actually had a lot of sympathy for prostitutes -- for example: Mary Magdalene, who later became a Catholic Saint, and now sells stuff online -- and seemed to think that the women themselves were the ones being forced into the dirty deed because they had no other means of survival - possibly because they'd already been raped and no man would marry them. (That's why Jesus' stepfather Joseph was such a hero, because he actually married a woman who was already pregnant.)

Jezebel was not actually a prostitute at all. She simply insisted on practising her own religion, which the Israelites considered evil, and charges may or may not have been trumped up against her. At any rate, she died a death that makes her killers look like crazed animals.

But she did wear makeup and dress in fancy clothes, like those Hollywood Jezebels who came so flagrantly on to poor Harvey Weinstein.

Here's just one of the many, many "seduced" evangelicals: Rev. Ralph Rutledge pastor Queensway scandal. This one I knew of personally. He started coming "short of the glory of God" in various ways at a young age, and got away with it because he was a pastor's son; so it's not surprising that he continued, untrammeled, into his own adult ministries, where he did in private things he preached against from the pulpit.

Unabashed, he simply pulls up stakes and begins yet another ministry (YouTube) - his reputation restored by the grace of God. How does he get away with it? Well, you need to think like Kathie Lee and the other excuse-finders to know how. Or like my own mother, who had a stock of phrases for just such occasions, like "She threw herself at him" or "The Devil is trying to destroy his ministry".

Yes, friends, Evangelicals are changing the face of Christianity -- but only the face and not the essence. The repetition of their history of secret sins and violent conquest, and their excuses for wrong deeds -- such as the all-purpose temptress Jezebel -- tells us what the new face of the Holy Land will look like, mark my words. (I've always wanted to say, "mark my words".)

More reading: A Critical Analysis of the United Pentecostal Church International - 2004
"It was the very appearance of Jesus, God incarnate, that nullified all the significance which the temple may have had untill (sic) that time, and Jesus did not hesitate to make the temple's imminent destruction clear."

Image: Christian conquest of Jerusalem in July 1099 - making Jesus proud.

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