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September 20, 2006
The Perfect Man
Nothing less than perfection is the threshold at Oral Roberts University. Perfect lives, perfect minds, perfect souls... cultivated through liberal doses of intoxicating music and supercharged sermons. Perfection is not only attainable, it is required, nothing less. Does this sound difficult? Not at all. You see, all you have to do give up your life to Jesus, real simple, nothing to question, nothing to challenge, you just surrender to the power of the Lord. At the end of the process you graduate and go out in the world to share the miracle of devotion... but don't press too hard, one false move, one difficult question, one probing analysis into the complexity of the human condition... and the whole house of cards comes tumbling down, unless you've made your millions preaching the Gospel.
At that point you can buy perfection.
Posted by the Secretary-at-Large at 08:37 PM >>>
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Jesus Was Wrong?
When you view the backside of the Prayer Hands there is a subtle message for those who dare look behind this imposing symbol of Moral Authority...
Posted by the Secretary-at-Large at 11:19 PM >>>
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September 21, 2006
Erase Your Mind
Heading through the wooded landscape of Arkansas, small country churches deliver their message: no reason to doubt, no need to question, don't even think about it! Just keep the faith... don't you dare challenge the moral authority of the good Lord in Heaven, you don't argue with the Bible! The holy angels have blessed the prophets and that's all you need to know.
A blank mind is a pure mind.
Posted by the Secretary-at-Large at 08:43 AM >>>
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Pay Up or Die
They may be country churches serving the good rural folk of Arkansas, but they mean business, no reason to hold anything back, they tell it just like it is: pay your dues or go straight to Hell.
Posted by the Secretary-at-Large at 09:03 AM >>>
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The Signs Are Everywhere
Driving into Hot Springs, Arkansas, boyhood home of President Bill Clinton, the signs are clear: eat your burger at MacDonald's (just like Bill always did before he had a bypass), pickup that chain saw you've been meaning to buy to clean up the ranch, and of course, love your Jesus.
Posted by the Secretary-at-Large at 05:23 PM >>>
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September 22, 2006
The Wrath of Failure
In the flat lands of Eastern Arkansas, on the final approach to Memphis, one is faced with the stark realization that it's all in vain, it's all just a meaningless pleasure ride through life, without the patented approval of the Lord. Yes, your life is one big, empty, secular failure if you haven't found your Jesus. But never mind, we're heading into legendary Memphis where the wages of sin, misery, and death have produced the most sublime music of the failed spirit.
Rejoice!
Posted by the Secretary-at-Large at 05:52 PM >>>
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September 23, 2006
The Transformation of Lady Liberty
Here in Memphis, Paster Alton R. Williams of the World Overcomers Outreach Ministries Church has erected his vision from God, the Statue of Liberation Through Christ, a mediational action of radical transformation to remake the American icon of liberty and freedom.
Posted by the Secretary-at-Large at 03:45 PM >>>
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September 24, 2006
Don't Let that Fear Thing Get You Down
At the World Overcomers Outreach Ministry Church (WOOMC), they put on quite a show, a real production, it's Sunday morning and it's show time... Paster Astor Williams steps up to the podium in a long flowing robe and belts out a bellyful of rockin' gospel, while the chorus shakes and wails behind him. The crowd is whipped up into a real frenzy, people are running around the stage, hands are thrust into the air, everyone is hugging everyone, it's a spectacle of religion on steroids. It's a high time and there's no room for doubt in this room.
Never missing a beat, the Paster launches into his sermon on Fear, or as he calles it: False Evidence Appearing Real... "I've got angels watchin' over me... fear not, I'm witchya, yeah, I'm witchya, and the greatest fear of all is goin' to Hell..." but no worry, that will never happen so long as you're all paid up to WOOMC.
Posted by the Secretary-at-Large at 08:09 PM >>>
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September 25, 2006
Jesus Loves Elvis
Posted by the Secretary-at-Large at 06:19 PM >>>
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September 26, 2006
Farewell
In the cotton fields of Tennessee, I bid farewell to the Bible Belt and to America. The descent continues: at the heart of the current condition, we find a nation gripped by extreme ideology, worshipping false idols, intoxicated with the drug of religion, the declaration of a Christian Nation. These cotton fields remind us of how the nation was founded on the blood and broken bones of the black man.
A Christian Nation?
Posted by the Secretary-at-Large at 07:16 PM >>>
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