The Christian Right ... or Wrong?
Exposing the Corrupt Teachings of Corporate Christianity and Its Leading Media Evangelists
John Cord
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The Christian Right ... or Wrong?Exposing the Corrupt Teachings of Corporate Christianity and Its Leading Media Evangelists John Cord
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John Cord lays bare the false teachings of forty Christian leaders on such controversial topics as abortion, homosexuality, tithing, salvation, idolatry, and religious terrorism. These influential leaders, mostly American televangelists, include Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Billy Graham, Robert Schuller, and Jimmy Swaggart. Cord studied over 700 hours of television ministries and talk shows, and provides verbatim excerpts of false religion, featuring interview segments conducted by Bill O'Reilly, Larry King, Geraldo Rivera, and Hannity & Colmes.
The Christian Right ... or Wrong? presents a robust sampling of the selfishness at the heart of corporate Christianity, whose age-old, "traditional" lies about God's Message shall, per Christ, be taught to the end.
Also by John Cord: Selfless Spirit, Selfish Ego
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Endorsements |
"Your ability to first dissect Scripture with explanations and correlations, and then analyze arguments of notable religious figures is excellent." Ryan U., Palm Springs, CA
"Every page you write strengthens what I have always known about love and goodness and my resolve to live that way. God could have only selected a very, very special soul as a conduit to share this message. You have no idea how much you have revived my Spirit." Karen S., Coon Rapids, MN
"I must admit that from my study of religion and specifically the Bible, I never drew the logical conclusion or reached the simplicity of understanding that you seem to have." Steve D., Bagdad, KY
"I heard you on Orlando's 740 AM this evening on my way to the Central Florida Down Syndrome Association meeting. The important thing is that I think I finally heard someone able to put into the English language what has been gnawing me about organized religion since I was eight years old. That's a long time. I'm over 50." Patricia W., Orlando, FL
"You are awesome! Would you be offended if I called you a Christian with brains? I'd like to characterize your philosophy as 'Religion without Dogma.' You have got major kahunas. I'm blown away." Roland M., Milwaukie, OR
"I am currently doing a report on you in my school for a literary paper. Your book has meant a lot to me. I have had many friends and my mom read it, and they thought your book was great. At first they were against it, but then they sat down and read it. They realized that the book made a lot of sense. Your book has influenced me, my peers, and my mom. Thanks for writing this book." Ryan C., Aiken, SC
"Wow!!! I am so blessed by what you say, because I do believe with all of my heart that God has been teaching me this for the last few years and has brought me out of religion which is a shortstop to God. I have finally been able to pull all the way out of 'organized religion.' Sometimes we're in the 'system' so long that the SYSTEM is what we know, and we don't know God at all." Ruth H., Dallas, TX
"Thank you so much. I am reading it every night! I love it, love it, love it!" David D., Palm Springs, CA
"Your work is excellent. I am impressed with your writing ... content, style, research, and approach ... and I LOVE the different fonts that makes your book so easy to read." Kevin J., Pleasanton, CA
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Table of Contents |
INTRODUCTION
ENLIGHTENMENTS
Chapter 1. SALVATION
Chapter 2. HOLIER-THAN-THOU
Chapter 3. TITHING
Chapter 4. IDOLATRY
Chapter 5. CHURCH OF LAODICEA
Chapter 6. REVELATION
Chapter 7. AS YOU SOW
Chapter 8. REINCARNATION
Chapter 9. ABORTION
Chapter 10. HOMOSEXUALITY
Chapter 11. PRIEST PEDOPHILIA
Chapter 12. RELIGIOUS TERRORISM
Chapter 13. MISCELLANEA
REFERENCES
INDEX OF PREACHERS
INDEX OF CELEBRITY INTERVIEWERS
INDEX OF BIBLICAL VERSES
INDEX BY SUBJECT
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Excerpt |
The world is full of religionists who use their sacred Scriptures to suit their own agendas. Had Bin Laden not sanctified violence as a means to further his "holy" cause, he would be just another selfish leader using spiritual texts for fear-mongering and separatism.
The global religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are directly linked to the God of Abraham. All three are entrusted with God's Message of the Spirit, which instructs believers to overcome evil with Good, yet all three have, past and present, shown themselves remarkably separatist. They feed and breed idolatry (man-made rituals, fears, and superstitions), and continue to force suffering and death upon those of differing beliefs. Though each thinks itself the "way" to Salvation, all have grown into false religions, betraying God's Spirit.
Religious businesses that use Scriptures to secure power and control over the souls and pocketbooks of the masses for self-serving reasons were created by humans, not God.
Jesus rejected Israel's scholars and Temple priests because they had made an idolatrous business of God's Word to enrich, empower, and exalt themselves. His Message of the Spirit of the Law over the Letter of the Law attracted masses of Jews away from the Temple, a serious threat to the status of the scholars, priests, and their temple trade. Unable to defeat His Message, they went after the Messenger, seeing to it that He was captured, which led to His death.
God does not instruct the building of corporate temples for idolatrous worship, but the building of the Temple Within, a Temple of Spirit built upon Selfless Love and Good Works. He instructs you to overcome your evil with Good, and reveals these forces to be relative to your heart and motivations. He instructs you not to judge others as hellbound for their sins, because as you judge others for their sins, so shall you, in the end, be judged likewise for yours ("he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone," John 8:7).
Corporate religions are "mindsets" that, to thrive, must unite individual minds to their exclusive cause. Indoctrination usually begins in childhood, when enslaving the human mind to idolatrous worship is met with least resistance. The enemy of idolatrous religion is the Spirit Within, which breaks the yoke of idolatry and leads to Salvation.
Romans 8:11 (authored by Apostle Paul)
11. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. [But if the Spirit of God that resurrected Christ dwells Within you, the Good Spirit shall quicken you unto Salvation.]
It is human selfishness grinding the gears of religions that serve-up separatism, intolerance, murders, and wars. Can we ever know the depths of misery that "Holy and Righteous" corporate religionists have wrought upon humanity in the name of God? What do you think September 11th was about? It was born of the same selfishness that birthed the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Ku Klux Klan, and every separatist, holier-than-thou zealot in history.
A bear cannot catch fish if it cannot see past the pond's rippling surface. The creature's success requires a shift of perception. Realizing the Bible's Message of the Spirit requires a shift of perception. We must look beyond the Bible's literal, "surface" messages of interwoven contrasts and contradictions to capture its underlying Message of the Spirit (we must see past the "ripples" to capture God's "food" for our souls).
Jesus reminds us that knowing the Spirit requires eyes that "see" and ears that "hear," which is not about opening our visual and auditory organs, but about opening our minds.
One famous scene shows Jesus and His Apostles upon the stormy Sea of Galilee. Jesus, asleep in the pitching boat, is awakened by them, as they fear for their lives, being of "little faith." Jesus shows His power of God, the Spirit Within Him, when He commands, "Peace, be still," calming the winds and waters (Mark 4:36-41; Luke 8:22-25). He is revealing that faith is the power to overcome evil (fear; chaos; ignorance) with Good (trust; peace; wisdom). Faith is the Spirit Within, the power to command peace and wisdom over fearful troubles and emotions.
Calming the stormy sea by bringing peace to its surface illustrates that you have the power to overcome your mind's troubles ("stormy seas") by lifting the Spirit Within to the forefront of your consciousness ... a shift of perception.
The Bible is like a "stormy sea" when interpreted by fearful, unenlightened minds that lawyer its Scriptures to death. They bicker over the Letter of the Law and suppress its Message of the Spirit, giving rise to so many various and turbulent, contradictory interpretations of the Bible. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, all born of the Bible, use Scriptures to justify their corporate systems of idolatry, denying the Bible's "still, small voice" that is its quiet, constant undercurrent of the Good Spirit.
We are repeatedly instructed to overcome the "world" with the Spirit, and so too must we overcome the worldly, visible, literal, contradictory, "surface" messages of the Bible with its One Message of the Spirit. We are to overcome the Letter of the Law with the Spirit of the Law.
Corporate Christianity is split into hundreds of sects, because it denies Oneness and embraces separatism. God's Message of the Spirit is diminished, even fully ignored by religionists lacking eyes to see and ears to hear. If you choose to be spoon-fed the Bible from the minds of corporate religionists, beware to discern the "wheat" from the "chaff."
Eyes that see and ears that hear are needed in order to separate the Bible's fruitful "wheat" from its unfruitful "chaff" [the "wheat" is the Truth that supersedes all else (the Bible's Message of the Spirit; the Spirit of the Law); the "chaff" are lesser truths (inconsequential truths; the Letter of the Law)]. Lesser truths, when EXALTED over the Spirit, become lies. Preachers who serve-up chaff feed their audience Spiritless instruction. If chaff is to be served up, it must be kept in its proper perspective. Better to serve up only the wheat.
The "wheat and the chaff" is like Jesus' allegory in which a house built upon rock will survive, unlike a house built upon sand (Matthew 7:26-27). The "house" is your soul. Is your soul of the strong foundation of the Spirit of the Law (built upon the "rock"; fed upon the "wheat") or of the weak foundation of the Letter of the Law (built upon the "sand"; fed upon the "chaff")?
The Bible is like a desert of sand (Letter of the Law) threaded with a singular, direct path of rock (Spirit of the Law). The rock path is The Way to Salvation. Preachers who elevate the Letter of the Law over the Spirit of the Law are, metaphorically speaking, throwing a cloud of sand above the rock path, obscuring The Way for many of their followers.
Blue Dolphin Publishing, 2004