SELMER, Tenn., March 24 — The wife of a slain Tennessee minister was charged with first-degree murder on Friday after confessing to shooting him, the police said.

The defendant, Mary Winkler, 32, was arrested in Orange Beach, Ala., where the police discovered the family minivan on Thursday night pulled over on a roadside hundreds of miles from Selmer, where the family lived. She was found with the couple's three young daughters, who were unharmed.

The killing has roiled the town of Selmer, a southwestern Tennessee community about 80 miles east of Memphis where Matthew Winkler, 31, was known as an energetic and vibrant preacher at the Fourth Street Church of Christ, as well as a loving father and husband.

"I don't know what her reason is," said Betty Wilkerson, the church secretary. "I know we'll probably find out in the weeks to come. But I'm not going to judge her."

John Mehr, special agent in charge for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations Western District, declined to comment about a motive or why Mrs. Winkler went to Alabama with the children. She remained in custody in Alabama on Friday night.

Church members searched for Mr. Winkler after he failed to show up for a service Wednesday night and calls to his telephone were unanswered. When they went to the church-owned home across town, they let themselves in with a key they found and discovered Mr. Winkler's bloodied body in a bedroom.

With no sign of his wife, daughters or the family car, many in the congregation thought Mrs. Winkler and the children had been kidnapped.

The news that the police said Mrs. Winkler had confessed baffled those who knew them and their daughters, Breanna, 1, Mary Alice, 6, and Patricia, 8.

Ms. Wilkerson described Mrs. Winkler as "very domestic" and said she would often bring lunch to her husband at the church. The two would sit and visit in an office. "They just seemed like the all-American family," Ms. Wilkerson said.

The Winklers' church was one of many that posted advertisements in the fields along nearby U.S. 45. But members said that Matthew Winkler attracted new members with his dynamism and energy, increasing the congregation to 200 members from about 140 in the year he had been its pastor.

The church was mostly quiet on Friday, with no services or events planned. By midafternoon, a handwritten sign went up on the front door: "No more interviews today."

Inside the door, photographs of the children and their mother were stapled to a bulletin board. More photos were on display in an inside room: pictures of the older girls in costumes, playing basketball and sitting with Santa, along with a picture of Mrs. Winkler holding her youngest daughter.

A steady trickle of church members knocked on the locked door and slipped inside, where they greeted one another, embraced and offered words of support. One was Janet Sparks, a retired teacher who has attended the church for decades.

Mr. Winkler's effusive energy "just wore you out," Ms. Sparks said with a laugh. She said she knew nothing about the family that would have predicted the killing.

"Everything you saw belies what has happened," she said. "It just doesn't go together. There's something amiss, and we don't know what that is."

Still, Ms. Sparks said, it had only been a year since the Winklers had come to town, and it was hard to know if something lay beneath the surface.

"When you get right down to it, we didn't know these people," she said. "But do you ever know anybody? We don't really know what goes on when they go home and close the doors."

Nekki King, 32, a church member, lived just up Mollie Drive from her minister's family in a wooded neighborhood. She called the couple "very sweet people."

Her three children often played with the Winkler children, and the families got together for birthday parties. She pointed to a page torn from the church directory with a color photo of Mr. Winkler and said, "That was a good man."

Ms. King had gotten to know Mrs. Winkler. The women had planned to assemble scrapbooks, and they often sat and talked about what was going on in their lives.

"Nothing was ever wrong," Ms. King said. "I just wonder if something happened that no one knows about."

She should have just drugged him slowly.

Experts: Preachers' Wives Often Struggle

By WOODY BAIRD, Associated Press Writer
Published: Saturday, April 1, 2006
Updated: Saturday, April 1, 2006

SELMER, Tenn. (AP) - Mary Winkler was the quiet, unassuming wife of a small-town, by-the-Bible preacher, seemingly devoted to church and family. But now her husband, Matthew, is dead and she is charged with shooting him in the back with a shotgun.

Authorities won't discuss a motive, and church members say they didn't see any indication she was unhappy. But experts say preachers' wives often struggle with depression and isolation, expected to be exemplars of Christian virtue while bearing unique pressures on their private and public lives.

Gayle Haggard, author of "A Life Embraced: A Hopeful Guide for the Pastor's Wife," said ministers' wives can feel isolated because of a misconception about leadership, since they and their husbands are leaders of their congregations.

They can feel trapped, she said, by unrealistic expectations "to live a certain way, to dress a certain way, for their children to behave a certain way."

And ministers' wives often find themselves handling more jobs than they expected to take on, said Becky Hunter, current president of the Global Pastors Wives Network.

"You're not really hired, and yet there is some expectation in most church settings that the pastor's wife comes along in a package deal," Hunter said.

Too often, ministers and their wives are reluctant to seek emotional help from members of their congregations because they're looked up to as leaders, said Lois Evans, a former president of the Global Pastors Wives Network. They can become isolated, lonely and depressed.

"This family needed help," said Evans. "It seems like there was no place to turn to and no place to talk and it became an explosive situation."

Matthew Winkler, 31, was found dead in a bedroom at the couple's parsonage Wednesday night in Selmer, a town of 4,400 people about 80 miles east of Memphis. Mary Winkler, 32, and her three young daughters were found Thursday night leaving a restaurant in Orange Beach, Ala., about 340 miles from Selmer. Orange Beach Police Chief Billy Wilkins said she had rented a condo on the beach after the slaying.

She was charged with first-degree murder and ordered held without bail. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent John Mehr said authorities know the motive for the killing, but he would not disclose it.

Mary Winkler was working part-time as a substitute teacher and taking college courses to get a teaching certificate as well as raising her three children and serving the congregation as its preacher's wife.

"You know she was weighted down," said Jimmie Smith, a member of Matthew Winkler's Fourth Street Church of Christ congregation and a retired psychiatric nurse.

Defense lawyer Steve Farese refused to talk about the Winklers' private life or if they had personal troubles.

"I can't discuss anything she's told me," Farese said. "But I think you have to look at the entire picture. You can't look at the end of a story and determine what the beginning and middle were."

Can somebody give a doctrinal rundown on the Church of Christ?

Christian Churches Create New Organization
The Associated Press
Published: Thursday, April 6, 2006
Updated: Thursday, April 6, 2006

ATLANTA (AP) - Leaders of 34 church groups have set aside years of differences over theology and other issues to create the broadest Christian unity organization in U.S. history.

Christian Churches Together in the USA brings together Roman Catholics, evangelicals, Pentecostals, mainline Protestants, historically black churches and Orthodox Christians.

The group announced its formation March 31 at the end of an Atlanta meeting and said its mission is to "strengthen our Christian witness in the world." Leaders of the new organization will focus in the coming year on fighting poverty in the United States.

Among the current members are the historically black National Baptist Convention, U.S.A.; the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; the Salvation Army; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; the International Pentecostal Holiness Church and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

Organizers of Christian Churches Together say at least eight other groups are seriously considering membership and they have invited any other interested denominations to join.

The 16.3 million-member Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant group, has not affiliated with the group.

Existing U.S. ecumenical groups include the National Council of Churches, whose members are mainline Protestants and Orthodox Christian, but not Roman Catholic. The National Association of Evangelicals represents conservative Protestants.

Notre Dame OKs Campus 'Vagina Monologues'
By TOM COYNE, Associated Press Writer
Published: Thursday, April 6, 2006
Updated: Thursday, April 6, 2006

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - Conservative Catholics are criticizing a decision by the University of Notre Dame's president to allow "The Vagina Monologues" on campus, saying the play - which includes discussions of homosexuality and orgasms - goes against the school's Catholic character.

Bishop John D'Arcy of the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese said he was "deeply saddened" by the announcement from university's president, the Rev. John I. Jenkins.

Jenkins said Wednesday that the school will allow the play and other events that may go against Roman Catholic teachings on campus because universities should be places where debate is promoted.

"To be a university means that we engage in diversity of viewpoints that are vigorously debated, some of which will challenge Catholic understanding," he said. "I don't think we should be afraid of that. That's what it is to be a university."

Patrick J. Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society, a conservative group that opposes allowing the play on Catholic campuses, called the decision hypocritical.

"The fact that he has studied this issue so carefully and attended the play and considered all of the implications and come to this conclusion suggests to me that he has total disregard for Notre Dame's Catholic identity," Reilly said.

"The Vagina Monologues," a play by Eve Ensler, is based on discussions with 200 girls and women about their feelings for their anatomy. Catholic schools throughout the country have debated whether to allow it, pitting issues of academic freedom against religion.

Jenkins' predecessor, the Rev. Edward A. Malloy, first allowed the play to be performed on campus five years ago. Jenkins had limited the performance to a classroom setting and barred ticket sales while he reviewed the matter.

Jazz and Martin Luther March To The Same Beat
Star Tribune
Published: Thursday, April 6, 2006
Updated: Thursday, April 6, 2006

(SH) - Martin Luther and modern jazz are blissfully cohabiting in Minneapolis.

The sounds of the paradoxical partners enliven the stately sanctuary of St. Paul's Lutheran Church on Saturday evenings when Mercy Seat, a new church with a jazz liturgy, comes to life.

The "mission church" of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Minneapolis synod is the brainchild - and love child - of three outspoken pastors who want to do something different - really different - with their urban church.

The Revs. Kae Evensen, Kyle Halvorson and Mark Stenberg are "orthodox trinitarians who believe in the theology of the cross and God's radical grace," Stenberg said. "We wanted to embrace the beautiful traditional liturgy, but to cast it into a different creative idiom."

The theology, approached in "a smart, critical way," Stenberg said, will be familiar to any Lutheran. Beyond that, the church is an original.

To its founding trio, Mercy Seat is a holy experiment, a beautiful mess of unlike elements that will appeal to "thinking people who are looking for something bigger, starker, more magnificent than you might find in a mainstream church," Halvorson said.

"We're trying to get at something uncanny - the thing that makes goose bumps appear," he said, the sort of "terrible beauty" found in great poetry and art - and in Christianity.

"The Bible is not a little book of rules," he said. "It's dark and disturbing. It is profound and wild and unholy."

Unholy? He means that in a good way: "It's full of paradox and complexity."

For such a church, "no cheesy praise music" will do, Halvorson said. "No flaky liturgies," Evensen said.

Enter jazz.

On Mercy Seat's second Sunday, worshipers sang the Lutheran liturgy set to jazz composed by Jonathan Pemberton, a local composer and musician, and Halvorson. They sang hesitantly at first, then with growing confidence and feeling.

Offering and communion, when the four musicians improvised, were nothing less than mini-concerts.

"Instead of taking regular church music and jazzing it up, we're playing real jazz," Pemberton said. "It's not prettied up or dumbed down."

As Mercy Seat's music director, Pemberton, 44, serves as a liaison between the church and the jazz community, hiring professional musicians for the 5 p.m. services, which, he said, many see as "an ideal time slot" before secular gigs.

"Every week we'll have a different look, a different sound," he said. "This thing is creating a buzz in the jazz community."

Some people will come just to hear the music, Pemberton and the pastors say. And that's all right with them.

Evensen and Stenberg, both 45, and Halvorson, 44, team-pastor in an attempt to get "away from a pastorship based on one personality to one based on collegiality," Evensen said.

They pick up from each other like improvising musicians. One Saturday, Evensen's opening reading was a funky, funny 1957 stewardess-training-film script called "Angels in the Aisle." And her sermon was a witty tale of her turbulent flight to her grandfather's funeral with passengers obsessed with the "Left Behind" books combined with a poetic meditation on the eighth chapter of Mark.

Stenberg offered a prayer that began, "Holy Christ, draw us into your odd and dislocated narrative. ... Help us humbly acknowledge the ways we get your story wrong. ..."

Halvorson thanked God for, among other things, "art, music and coffee in the morning" and expressed sorrow over "our addiction to violence and greed."

The service struck a chord with worshipers.

"The jazz during communion gave me a whole new feeling, very happy and nice," said Glenys Gullixson-Temen, 43, who was visiting from California.

Jake Nyberg, 26, of Shoreview, Minn., said he's drawn to Mercy Seat's music and urban focus, but also to "its authenticity.

"This place has an appreciation for beauty that will make it the third place for many people," he said.

The third place?

"There is home and work, and then there's your third place" - a bar, a library, a computer or, perhaps, church, Nyberg said. "People are looking for camaraderie and intelligence, and a place where they can be lighthearted together. All those things I see here."

Algeria Forbids Efforts to Convert Its Muslims
By REUTERS
Published: April 6, 2006
ALGIERS, April 5 (Reuters) — Algeria has passed a law prohibiting efforts to convert Muslims to another religion, the country's chief of religious affairs said on Wednesday. The move seems aimed at maintaining stability after the Islamist violence that had plagued the country for a decade.

Muhammad Aissa, director of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, told the state radio network that the measure, passed on March 20, was prompted by the activities of Christian evangelists, particularly in the restive ethnic Berber region of Kabylie.

"We found out that in addition to Islam, Christianity has also been used as a tool to destabilize the country during the last bloody decade," Mr. Aissa said.

"Ten sects are active in Algeria," he said, referring to Christian groups. "They do not respect our laws. And some of these sects called for revolt in the Kabylie region."

In 1992, violence erupted in Algeria after the military, fearing an Iranian-style revolution, canceled legislative elections that an Islamist group, the Islamic Salvation Front, was expected to win. An estimated 200,000 people were killed during the next decade.

The new law calls for sentences of five years in prison and a fine of $70 to $140 for those who try to convert Muslims to another religion.

"Never forget that the use of Islam as a political tool produced more than 10 years of terrorism," Mr. Aissa said. "We want to be immunized against the use of religion, all religions, in Algeria as political tools to destabilize the country.

Before the law was passed, there was no legal barrier to the conversion of Muslims to other religions, although state officials generally viewed the practice as subversive.

Berbers, who constitute about a fifth of Algeria's 33 million people, were the original inhabitants of North Africa before the Arab invasion in the seventh century. They have campaigned for more rights related to the use of their language and the practice of their culture.

Algeria is almost totally Muslim. According to officials, the country has no more than 5,000 Christians, including expatriates.

The Roman Catholic, Protestant and Seventh-day Adventist churches were the only Christian organizations authorized to operate in the country, the State Department has said in a report on human rights in Algeria.

Christianity, the Brand

By STRAWBERRY SAROYAN
Published: April 16, 2006

It was around noon on a sunny Tuesday last winter at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., and Larry Ross, arguably the top public relations man for Christian clients in America, was presiding over a media briefing on behalf of the church, its pastor, Rick Warren, and his wife, Kay. The occasion was the Warrens' three-day H.I.V./AIDS conference, "Disturbing Voices." When Jim Towey, the director of the Bush administration's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, walked in, Ross acknowledged him and noted that Towey had been the longtime lawyer for Mother Teresa. Then Ross opened the floor to questions.

"Yeah," Warren said into his mike. "I'd like to know why Mother Teresa needed a lawyer." The crowd cracked up. No one answered, but it was the kind of question that might have been asked about Warren himself: Why does Rick Warren need a public relations man?

Of course, in his case, there's an easy explanation. Warren's book "The Purpose-Driven Life" has sold more than 25 million copies, making it the best-selling hardcover book of nonfiction ever published in the United States, and some say Saddleback has more in common with Google or Starbucks, at least in scope, than the typical church. Warren has a public and a brand to manage.

But when you speak to Ross for even a short length of time, it becomes clear that he sees himself as serving more than Rick Warren — or Billy Graham, or the men's ministry Promise Keepers, or films like "The Passion of the Christ" (he has represented them all). The Kingdom of God itself is a client of sorts. Publicity, marketing and branding are his ministry. So the real question becomes, Why does God need someone to sell him?

It is a query Ross has spent the last 25 years answering. In 1981, Ross began working with the evangelist Billy Graham and trailblazing the new world of Christian P.R. Ross has counseled Graham through the Nixon-tapes crisis (Graham was heard voicing anti-Semitic sentiments to the president) and helped keep him squeaky clean during the televangelist scandals of the 80's. And earlier this month, when Graham made the New York Times extended best-seller list with his book "The Journey," Ross could be heard pitching him as the oldest author ever on the list. Ross has also represented T. D. Jakes, the African-American pastor whom Ross says he signed when he was "Bishop Who," and films like the prophetic end-times "Left Behind" series and "The Prince of Egypt." For the latter, an animated movie that came out in 1998, he helped pioneer some of the contemporary church-marketing techniques that were used later to promote Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ." Ross has largely stayed out of politics, but he did sign up Rod Parsley's Center for Moral Clarity in 2004; Parsley, a rising evangelical, is not publicly aligned with a political party, but he worked to mobilize voters in the swing state of Ohio, which went for George Bush in the last election.

Ross is not the sole powerful figure in Christian P.R., but only Mark DeMoss, who worked with Jerry Falwell for eight years before starting the DeMoss Group in Atlanta in 1991, enjoys comparable status. Ross, who is 52, has witnessed — and most likely contributed to — the increased attention to Christianity in the wider culture. He notes that some of the biggest national stories since 9/11 have touched on faith, including Gibson's film, the "values voters" and even Hurricane Katrina ("We're the good news behind the bad news," Ross says, referring to the consolations of faith in the wake of natural disasters, as well as the welcome that religious voices often receive in the press in such situations). And Christian-product markets are expanding rapidly. "The Chronicles of Narnia" took in more than $290 million at the box office domestically last winter. ("The Passion" grossed $370 million.) Christian music now racks up $700 million in sales annually. In 2004, sales of religious books reached $1.9 billion. Packaged Facts, a market-research firm, predicts that Christian products will generate $9.5 billion in sales by 2010. Then there's the Bush factor. "Any time religion is linked to power, attention to religious news increases," says Debra Mason, executive director of the Religion Newswriters Association.

In Hollywood, there is Paul Lauer's Motive Entertainment (Lauer orchestrated the marketing of "The Passion" by enlisting 15 firms, including Ross's, to handle different tasks) and Jonathan Bock's Grace Hill Media, whose projects have included "Narnia." Other marketing firms include the Internet-focused BuzzPlant, based in Tennessee, and Renegade Idea Group, out of Texas. Ross claims that in the past decade smaller firms have emerged that handle Christian P.R., which he differentiates from marketing (his firm handles both). Ross works with many of them and acts as a sort of Vernon Jordan of the Bible Belt, making introductions and forging strategic alliances.

Ross opened his company, A. Larry Ross Communications (his first name is Arthur), in 1994, after a 13-year stay at Walter Bennett Communications, where he first began working with Billy Graham. When the agency urged him to focus on expanding a P.R. base that included secular clients because Graham wasn't "the future," Ross and his wife, Autumn, took what was supposed to be a down payment on a house and started a business instead; she calls the step "a bungee jump for God." (Autumn is not involved in the firm's day-to-day business.) Today the Dallas-based firm has 13 staff members and roughly 20 to 30 clients at any given time. Ross says that he rarely chases after a client and is able to operate on the principle of attraction, relying on good word of mouth and referrals to win clients. (DeMoss claims to work this way, too, and the two say they are not competitive with each other, although they have represented half a dozen of the same clients at different times.) Ross, quoting Autumn, characterizes his clients as "anybody that we will be with in heaven someday." While he declines to be specific, he does admit to annual billings "in the seven figures." When asked if a client like Rick Warren helps to underwrite the cost of a client with fewer financial resources, Ross replies, "That's not the way it works." He says the firm bills according to time, with rates varying according to the experience of those assigned to a client...

Ross characterizes part of his job as finding the sweet spot where faith and the culture intersect, because religion on its own often isn't enough, as he sees it, to generate mainstream press. He offers his handling of T.D. Jakes as a typical example. Today Jakes is the pastor of the Potter's House in South Dallas, one of the fastest-growing churches in the country, with 30,000 members; he is also behind the "Woman, Thou Art Loosed" novel, film and gatherings, and he created the Metroplex Economic Development Corporation, which sponsors homeownership conferences and organizes training sessions for would-be entrepreneurs. After listening to hours and hours of the pastor's sermons, Ross realized that what might appeal to a broader audience were Jakes's efforts to economically empower African-American youth — Jakes was a business story, in other words. Not long after that, Jakes landed a Page 1 profile in The Wall Street Journal. It was the preacher's first major national exposure.

Ross also has an eye for the odd coupling. He booked Rod Parsley, a flamboyant Charismatic Pentecostal and a staple of Christian television, including the Trinity Broadcasting Network (the world's largest Christian network), on "Dennis Miller" and "Larry King Live." A client known as Dino, a sort of Liberace in Christian circles who plays a crystal-covered piano, told me that Ross tried to get him onto "Jimmy Kimmel Live," the late-night talk show, during the holiday season (the two sides couldn't settle on a date). "Larry thought I might be off the wall enough," Dino said.

Perhaps the most intensive training that Ross offers is his "media and spokesperson" sessions. These can last as long as two days and usually include several mock interviews, which are taped. Ross encourages his clients to engage the media, but he wants to prepare them for worst-case encounters, so he administers tough questioning. To loosen clients up, he shows them an old "Bob Newhart" episode in which a talk-show host suddenly turns on Newhart. "It's one of the funniest things I've ever seen," Ross says. He advises clients to avoid ecclesiastical language when addressing the mainstream ("Somebody talks about the Holy Ghost or the Army of God — that sounds like a revolution and it's coming out of Iran," says Lawrence Swicegood, who has worked for Ross and DeMoss) and to use metaphors because they stick in people's minds. Toward the end of a session, Ross looses a "bulldog" interrogator, a role played these days by Giles Hudson, a former writer for the Associated Press, who poses questions ranging from financial queries to "Do homosexuals go to hell?" "Obviously not," Hudson says is a good response to this challenge. "Each person has their own relationship to Christ. People don't just go to hell because you're an alcoholic." Sometimes Ross and Hudson add a separate, ambush interview. After taking a "break" from a session with Promise Keepers, Ross's team confronted its president in the reception area, camera crew in tow...

When Ross talks today of operating on two tracks, it's not children's science and grown-up car sales he has in mind. What he means is mainstream and Christian. Take what he calls "faith and family" films. "The average teenager sees 50 movies a year — about one a week," he says. "That makes Mel Gibson one of the high priests of our culture. We're forming values, and to be able to do that through entertainment, which is further upstream from politics, is huge." Ross's most high-profile job in this vein has been his work on "The Passion." Initially he was brought in to help quell the controversy surrounding the film, and to that end he was instrumental in prompting the publication of several high-profile mainstream-media articles. Ross was also in charge of securing coverage in Christian print and online media. And he acted as facilitator too, introducing Gibson to Graham and dozens of other mover-and-shaker pastors, who got to see the film at previews Ross helped organize. He even hooked Gibson up with a clever telemarketing agency, the Broadcast Team, which had Gibson tape a message directed at pastors when they were likely to be out. "They want an answering machine because then the pastor says, 'I just got a call from Mel Gibson!"' Ross told me. "He plays it for his staff, he keeps it, he records it. It's viral. And it's less than 10 cents per call..."

Ross and his staff seem alternately comfortable and uncomfortable with the roles they play. One evening, Hudson appeared to fear being too candid. "If 50 percent of America identifies itself as Christian, you'd think the dominant media of the day would reflect that," he said, but soon reprimanded himself. "I said I was going to shut up. I have to shut up." It turns out that Ross isn't necessarily above criticism. Though he has said he takes on only clients who will reflect well on Billy Graham, Ross's client Rod Parsley had his church governance and fund-raising practices questioned in an article last winter in the left-leaning American Prospect. (Ross says that much of what was reported occurred "way before our time" and is "not consistent with the man and the organization" he has been working with for the past 18 months.) When I returned from my time with Ross in Dallas, I found that he had also worked with Benny Hinn, who has been criticized for everything from preaching the prosperity gospel to making supposedly false claims of healing. Instead of admitting as much, Ross borrowed a page from the politician's playbook. He initially denied "representing" the pastor. Whoops, wrong word. Did he "work" with the pastor? Yes, he told me, on a consulting basis — but he kept his distance for Billy Graham's sake, using letterhead that didn't identify his firm and never letting himself be quoted in print in association with Hinn.

But Ross seems to be mostly at peace with his role and described it to me one afternoon this way: after invoking a biblical story about Moses' engagement in a lengthy battle for the children of Israel, he said: "Moses stood there on top of a cliff, and as long as he held up his arms, the children of Israel won. Well, after a while he got tired, so there were two men that came and held up Moses' arms so they could win the battle. That's my job — to hold up the arms of the man of God, like Billy Graham or Rick Warren, in the media." But his eyes really lighted up when he moved onto another topic — the press reception Graham received during his New York crusade last June. "He ended up doing 15 interviews, including all the major talk shows," Ross told me. "At the press conference itself we had 250 journalists."

A lot of people who have left GGWO have been reading books by Rick Warren.

Religion Today


By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 4, 2006
Filed at 12:11 p.m. ET

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (AP) -- The Rev. Edward Murphy wakes each day at 5 a.m., has Bible study, and within an hour is on the reconstruction site of hurricane-battered Shoreline Baptist Church.

The stocky, 61-year-old minister leaves footprints in the sawdust on the sanctuary floor as he makes his daily inspection of the two-story, brick building. When he reaches the outside rear of the church, he abruptly stops, smiles and turns to his wife, Karen.

''They have the meter in,'' he says.

''Praise the Lord,'' Karen Murphy replies.

The significance of the meter is more than restored electricity. It means the church is that much closer to recovery and to becoming a symbol of hope to a community still scarred eight months after Hurricane Katrina nearly wiped it off the map.

''Virtually everybody who comes into Bay St. Louis comes by this church,'' Pastor Murphy says. ''I want it to be a shining light,''

Like the thousands of families washed from their homes and businesses along Mississippi's coast, church leaders from Waveland to Pascagoula face hard decisions about the future.

Some are rebuilding with the help of the faithful across the nation, while others have nothing left to rebuild and are relocating inland. A common thread for all is the challenge to provide healing for struggling churchgoers.

''We need to get these houses of worship in order as soon as possible before more people drift away,'' says William Perkins, editor of the Baptist Record, the Mississippi Baptist Convention's weekly news journal.

Between 300 and 400 Southern Baptist churches were damaged by the hurricane. Of those, about 100 were destroyed, Perkins says.

Restoration is made possible from insurance settlements, donations and volunteer labor. Many churches get financial assistance from their headquarters. Few seek federal disaster loans.

In most cases, however, insurance payments are far short of what's needed.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Biloxi had its parishes, schools, deaf center and senior citizens apartments insured for $35 million on one policy, but Katrina did $70 million in damage.

Ten churches were destroyed or gutted and another 10 were severely damaged, said Shirley Henderson, communication coordinator for the diocese. The diocese combined some churches rather than rebuild, basing the decision on the degree of damage and whether there was a congregation base left in a parish.

''We lost so many people, so you're not going to have the collection,'' Henderson said.

Even as Gulf Coast churches grapple with structural and financial dilemmas, they're still expected to serve a crippled community.

Murphy's church, whose congregation numbered 150 before the storm, had $750,000 in damage. He's received a fraction of that in volunteer labor and monetary contributions. Yet, even as he waits for more donations, he's using church funds and other resources to build hundreds of storage sheds for residents living in trailers provided by the federal government.

He and his band of volunteers also have cleaned up the flooded homes of 1,500 families in the months since Katrina raged ashore last August.

About 30 miles east of Bay St. Louis, a few hundred feet from Gulfport's beach, is a slab of concrete that once was home to St. Marks Episcopal Church.

Leaders of the historic church, founded in 1846 and frequented by Confederate President Jefferson Davis, say they're going to rebuild inland rather than risk another deadly storm.

For now, members meet in a 78-by-40-foot federal trailer each Sunday. They sit on straight-back chairs tightly arranged in a semicircle around a makeshift pulpit: a table covered with purple linen with a brass cross on top. The compact surroundings are conducive to ''reaching out to members,'' says the Rev. Nick Roberts, an associate pastor who also is coast coordinator for the Lutheran-Episcopal Disaster Response.

St. Marks' Katrina-related ministries include counseling, distributing food and clothing and recruiting doctors and nurses to the Coastal Family Health Clinic.

''The church has always been the provider of last resort,'' Roberts said. ''Even as we pick our mission to rebuild houses and disaster response programs, what we understand is there's still going to be those people who can't afford utilities and can't afford medicine. They're going to come back to the churches.''

The Rev. Beau Roberts, pastor of St. Marks who is not related to Nick Roberts, says the church has raised two-thirds of the money needed for the new building project.

Beau Roberts, who was a member of St. Marks when Hurricane Camille blew across the Gulf Coast in 1969, says new building codes adopted after Katrina and the rising cost of insurance forced the church's move two miles inland.

Designs for the new building, expected to be completed next year, include housing space for volunteers who may find themselves on the Gulf Coast in the future.

''We've all lived here long enough to know the next disaster is coming,'' he says.

Any of this crap sound familiar? Another one of "God's Annointed" telling people what God's Plan is for them. When you stop thinking for yourself, this is what you get.



Warren Jeffs: A wanted man
For 22 years, he was Alta Academy's principal. For the past four years, FLDS faithful have called him a prophet. Today, he is on the FBI's most wanted list. What went wrong?
Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune
At Alta Academy, the private school once run by Warren S. Jeffs, each day began with an hourlong devotional that included hymns, scripture reading and sermons.
But never the Pledge of Allegiance.
That puzzled Jaleena Fischer Jessop, who attended Alta Academy through 12th grade. When she confronted Jeffs in a world history class he taught, he gave her a stern look and answered in a steely voice. "It's because we answer to a higher power," Jaleena Jessop recalls him saying. "He didn't want us to get confused about who our allegiance was to."
Loyalty was owed to God and Jeffs as His representative on Earth, a stance that hardened as Jeffs moved from school master to president and prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Unyielding on the faith's tenet of plural marriage, even with underage brides, Jeffs now finds himself battling a growing number of former FLDS members and authorities in Utah and Arizona.
Jeffs has been a fugitive since June 2005, when he was indicted on sex crimes in Arizona for allegedly marrying a 16-year-old girl to an older man. In April, Utah prosecutors charged him with two counts of rape as an accomplice for allegedly forcing another underage girl into marriage.
On Saturday, the FBI placed Jeffs on its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
"He is a religious tyrant, a demagogue, " said Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. "He has this absolute disregard for the laws of the nation, of the state, to the point that no matter what we do . . . it's an aggressively in-your-face, you-can't-touch me attitude."
'Rule in all areas': Jeffs' arrival could be considered a bit of a miracle.
He was born - 2 1/2 months premature and so small he fit in a shoebox - on Dec. 3, 1955, in San Francisco to accountant Rulon T. Jeffs and Marilyn Steed, the fourth and favored plural wife. Jeffs was among the first 10 of Rulon Jeffs' approximately 30 sons; he has about 35 full and half sisters.
Jeffs excelled at Jordan High School, graduating in 1973 in the top 3 percent of his class. That same year, then-prophet LeRoy S. Johnson and other leaders of "The Work" - as the FLDS church was then known - launched Alta Academy.
The new school was housed at Rulon Jeffs' compound near Little Cottonwood Canyon. After a brief stint in his father's accounting office, Jeffs joined its staff. Despite not having a college education, he taught classes such as world and priesthood history, algebra, computer programming and choir. In 1976, Jeffs became school principal.
Yearbooks show the talented singer cutting up in school plays, sledding with students and playing softball. But as school master, Jeffs also realized his power to shape belief and allegiance. He canceled an annual snow sculpture contest, equating it with idolatry. It was here also that he delivered - and taped - a series of lectures that today are a primary text in the FLDS canon.
Some followers play the tapes all day long, listening as a droning Jeffs describes a woman's duty to be submissive, "Negro" devilishness and the right of God's anointed leader to "rule in all areas of life." Jeffs drove home the first point during a home economics class taught by his first wife, Annette. Jeffs ordered male students to join female classmates in the meeting hall. Jeffs grabbed his wife's long braid and twisted it, sending her to her knees. A man has a duty, he said, to be a leader. And a wife needs to be submissive, no questions asked.
"He left. The boys left. She got up, fixed her hair and went on talking," said Jessop, 31, who witnessed the display. "She was a fun person. I think that is why he did it to her."
Jeffs also would grill students about their home life, then caution them to not tell their parents. Students who misbehaved could expect a swatting with a yardstick. Those Jeffs found more severely wanting were suspended or expelled. Jessop said her oldest sister was suspended for a year for writing a note to a boy.

Targeting family: One man, who had children at the school but asked to not be identified for fear of losing his family, said Jeffs learned patterns of power early. "By [using] guilt and dividing people, he was able to inject fear into people," he said. "He did it initially with his own family at Alta Academy."

Among Jeffs' targets: children of his half brother, Ward. Jeffs apparently considered one of Ward's two wives too free-spirited and her children, who lived in the compound, a bad influence. As an experiment, Jeffs suspended her four children from school for two to three months to see if their absence improved the "spirit" in their classrooms.
"There was nothing extreme to them that would justify keeping them out," said Dan Fischer, Jaleena's father. Fischer met with Rulon Jeffs, who had succeeded Johnson as prophet, and argued the expulsion would psychologically harm the children.
Fischer said Rulon Jeffs turned to Jeffs, asked how long the suspensions would last, and then gave his approval.
One of the suspended children, Brent Jeffs, alleged in a lawsuit filed in July 2004 that when he was 5 or 6, Jeffs and two other uncles repeatedly sodomized him in a bathroom at the school. Brent Jeffs, backed by his father, also alleges the men abused two of his brothers; one brother committed suicide in 2001.
Jeffs has refused to answer the charge, a chess move that has had a cascading effect for him, the FLDS church and its members.
The circle tightens: Alta Academy provided a pathway to power - particularly when Jeffs' father succeeded Johnson as prophet in 1986. Other men jockeyed for position, but Jeffs, urged on by his mother Marilyn, seemed bent on making himself indispensable.
"All of us [sons] wanted to support both our father and the church, but none of us pushed ourselves to the front," said Ward Jeffs. "For Warren, that became his first priority.
"He dared to, he wanted to, he needed to satisfy his image of being as perfect as a man can be in mortality," he said.
Rod Parker, an attorney who then represented the FLDS Church, said Jeffs was "strongly faithful."
At his father's elbow, Jeffs honed his leadership style - if not his doomsday worldview. Rulon Jeffs devoured magazines specializing in cataclysmic predictions of errant comets and monetary market collapses.
By 1998, Rulon Jeffs feared the imminent destruction of the Salt Lake Valley and relocated his family to a massive, walled compound in the supposed safety of Hildale.
The move marked the end of Alta Academy. But Jeffs now had a bigger audience: the 8,000 or so FLDS in Hildale and adjacent Colorado City, Ariz., historically the group's stronghold.
He began to speak for his father, who was enfeebled by age-related strokes, tightening the circle. Children were moved to private FLDS schools in 2000; in 2001, Salt Lake Valley followers were told to move south, too.
Rulon Jeffs, largely through Jeffs, told followers to get rid of television, the Internet, children's videos and books, music - anything that might taint the people's purity.
The transfer of power occurred seamlessly in September 2002 when, despite predictions he would live to be 350 and no other prophets would be called, Rulon Jeffs passed away.
At the funeral, his photograph was propped up on the seat and a program noted Rulon Jeffs would be presiding. The photo remained for a Sunday morning church service; by that afternoon, ex-member Jethro Barlow said, the photograph was gone.
And Jeffs had slipped into his father's seat.

A battle begins: As Jeffs came to power, the state of Utah began to flex a little muscle of its own.
Prosecutors charged Hildale police officer Rodney Holm with bigamy and unlawful sex with a minor for his "spiritual" marriage four years earlier, in 1998, to a 16-year-old girl.
Months earlier, FLDS church attorneys had advised that a showdown with Utah and Arizona authorities could be avoided by ending marriages between adult men and minor girls. Jeffs refused, making the practice a test of faith for the FLDS.
Other prophets, Rulon Jeffs among them, had sanctioned such "placement" marriages, though with input from girls and parents. Past prophets also kicked out unworthy men and reassigned their wives and children.
But former members say the pace and scale of both has intensified under Jeffs. The ranks of banished and heartbroken men, driven from their wives and children, may now be close to 100. Some women have asked Jeffs for a reassignment because they fear being saddled with an unworthy

Warren and Annette Jeffs in 1993. (Alta Academy yearbook)

man who can't get them to heaven. In another pivotal moment, Jeffs was infuriated when, without his approval, followers in July 2003 dedicated a Colorado City museum and monument to the community's survival of a 1953 crackdown on polygamy. Jeffs had been lying low to avoid being served a subpoena.
A month later, Holm was convicted. And by October, it is now known, Jeffs began preparing to leave the towns behind and winnow the flock to the most faithful.
Trusted followers began buying property in such locales as Eldorado, Texas; Mancos, Colo.; and Pringle, S.D. Of these outposts - it is suspected other enclaves have yet to be discovered - Eldorado, pop. 1,838, stands out.
The FLDS have poured millions into a 1,691-acre property, creating a small city with a dairy, cheese factory, orchard, barracks, homes, meeting hall and a massive limestone temple. The estimated population ranges from 150 to 600.
"It's terrible that our little town is known as the polygamous capital of the Southwest," said J.D. Doyle, a local pilot who offers free rides over the compound to police and media from as far away as Australia.

A "persecuted" prophet: But if Jeffs - and God, as he told his people - was done with the twin towns, his critics were just getting started.
A barrage of criminal charges and lawsuits have been piled on Jeffs since 2004. The property trust that holds virtually all land and buildings in the twin cities is under court supervision.
But motivated by what Driggs describes as a "visceral" distrust of the judicial system, Jeffs has let the court attacks go unanswered. He has disappeared from view, and is believed to rely on tithes from followers and FLDS businesses.
Jeffs, now 50, is left to manage his flock from some as yet unknown place. Top church members deliver pronouncements, such as recently exiling members Edward Chatwin and Patrick Pipkin. Chatwin said the community also receives taped "pep talks" from Jeffs.
Faithful followers proclaim that Jeffs is like God to them. Also, "there is great respect in the community for the office he holds," Driggs said.
Parker believes some of Jeffs' power is due to an FLDS perception he is being persecuted. "In the view of the faithful people, that makes him stronger in that he bears up to it," Parker said.
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said that bringing a "rule of law" to the FLDS requires, for now, a focus on Jeffs and the "messianic" power he exerts.
"He has almost unlimited ability to control those lives, but also to ruin them through ordering marriages, splitting families apart," Goddard said. "From the personal to the institutional, he has control that I think is intolerable in today's United States." brooke@sltrib.com

Charges
Arizona: One count of sexual conduct with a minor; one count of conspiracy to commit that crime. He allegedly "married" a 16-year-old girl to a 28-year-old married man. The Class 6 felonies, one step above a misdemeanor, are each punishable by up to a year in jail.
Utah: Two first-degree felony counts of rape, under the rarely-used theory that he acted as an accomplice in the sexual assault of a teenage girl he allegedly "married" to an older man. Each charge is punishable by up to life in prison. Federal Charges of flight to avoid prosecution have been filed in Utah and Arizona federal courts.

The following is taken from the web site www.godhatesfags.com of the Westover Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas pastored by Fred Phelps. This is the group that has been protesting at the funerals of service men and women killed in Iran and Afghanistan. They believe that the wars in these two countries and particularly the death of Americans there is God's judgement on the US for "tolerating" homosexuality. They also believe that each serviceman or woman was a "sodomite" of some sort. When I first heard of this site and the picketing, I thought it had to be a joke. But it's not. This guy has quite a few followers. Brother Fred is one more "annointed man of God" who's ready to tell you exactly what God's Plan is for YOU!

"Established in 1955 by Pastor Fred Phelps, the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) of Topeka, Kansas still exists today as an Old School (or, Primitive) Baptist Church. See the WBC Monograph. In short, we adhere to the teachings of the Bible, preach against all form of sin (e.g., fornication, adultery, sodomy), and insist that the doctrines of grace be taught publicly to all men. These doctrines of grace were well summed up by John Calvin in his 5 points of Calvinism: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints. Although these doctrines are almost universally hated today, they were once loved and believed. For example, Augustine (one of the early Church fathers), Martin Luther (the founder of the Lutheran Church), John Knox (the founder of the Presbyterian Church), Augustus Toplady (hymnist and leader in the Episcopal Church), Charles Spurgeon (a well-known preacher), and John Leland (who was partially responsible for our First Amendment in the United States) are just a few examples of people who have advanced these ideas. Please see The Doctrine of Absolute Predestination by Jerom Zanchius and our MEMO ON THE CHURCH. Most of the major Confessions of Faith throughout the history of the New Testament Church have also advanced these ideas. So, even though the Arminian lies that "God loves everyone" and "Jesus died for everyone" are being taught from nearly every pulpit in this generation, this hasn't always been the case. In fact, if you are in a Church that supposedly believes the Bible, and you are hearing these lies, then your church has apostatized. If you are interested in this subject, we encourage you to do some independent research on the history of the Church from Adam to now and, more importantly, we encourage you to carefully read the entire Bible.

WBC engages in daily peaceful sidewalk demonstrations opposing the homosexual lifestyle of soul-damning, nation-destroying filth. We display large, colorful signs containing Bible words and sentiments, including: GOD HATES FAGS, FAGS HATE GOD, AIDS CURES FAGS, THANK GOD FOR AIDS, FAGS BURN IN HELL, GOD IS NOT MOCKED, FAGS ARE NATURE FREAKS, GOD GAVE FAGS UP, NO SPECIAL LAWS FOR FAGS, FAGS DOOM NATIONS, etc.

Perceiving the modern militant homosexual movement to pose a clear and present danger to the survival of America, exposing our nation to the wrath of God as in 1898 B.C. at Sodom and Gomorrah, WBC has conducted over 22,000 such demonstrations since June, 1991, at homosexual parades and other events (including funerals of impenitent sodomites, like Matthew Shepard). WBC teams have picketed all over the United States, and internationally (including Canada, Jordan and Iraq). The unique picketing ministry of Westboro Baptist Church has received international attention, and WBC believes this gospel message to be this world's last hope.

For more information about WBC, feel free to attend one of our weekly church meetings. We are located at 3701 W. 12th Street in Topeka, KS. Regular service time is 11:30 a.m. (Central time)."

MAN, those Calvinist Fundamental Baptists don't mess around, do they? Thankfully, there have been Veterans groups who have worked hard to shield the grieving families from this crap.

Here's a little info on Mark David Chapman. I have included it here because of his denial of any sort of therapy, even though he killed John Lennon.

"Mark David Chapman (born May 10, 1955 in Fort Worth, Texas) is the man who assassinated former Beatle John Lennon on December 8, 1980.

Chapman had, during previous points in his life, been involved in various lifestyles; he had been addicted to drugs, became a born-again Christian, and also hospitalized for mental illness. At one time, he attended Covenant College (look up Covenant College) in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. He viewed J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye as having great personal significance for him, to the extent that he reportedly wished to model his life after the book's antisocial protagonist, Holden Caulfield.

Chapman said that he had been a fan of the Beatles, and Lennon in particular, for years, although his ex-girlfriend, wife and friends said later that if he was, they never knew about it. They always thought that he was a fan of Todd Rundgren, rather than the Beatles.

During his nervous breakdown, Chapman became obsessed with Lennon to such a degree that he married a Japanese-American woman because she reminded him of Lennon's wife, Yoko Ono As Chapman's life deteriorated, he began to resent his former hero, condemning him as a "phony" (Holden Caulfield's favorite insult).

At 10:50 p.m. on December 8, 1980, Chapman shot, and fatally wounded, John Lennon in front of Lennon's residence, the Dakota, at the corner of West 72nd Street and Central Park West in Manhattan, New York City. Chapman was carrying a copy of The Catcher in the Rye with him at the time.

Chapman spent most of the day near the entrance to the Dakota; talking to other fans and the Doorman. Late in the morning, Chapman met the Lennon's housekeeper who had just taken the five-year-old Sean Lennon for a walk. Chapman conversed with the housekeeper and patted Sean on the head as they departed. Around 4:00 p.m., John and Yoko left the Dakota for a recording session at the Record Plant Studio. As they walked towards their limousine on the curb, Chapman shook hands with Lennon and held out a copy of Lennon's new album Double Fantasy for him to sign - and Lennon did. An amateur/fan photographer was present when Lennon signed Chapman's album, and also took a photo of the event. This would be the last photo taken of Lennon whilst he was alive. After the Lennons left, Chapman continued to wait near the Dakota. Around 10:50 p.m., the Lennons' limousine returned to the Dakota. As John and Yoko passed by, and entered the archway entrance of the building's courtyard, Chapman dropped into a military firing stance and called out, "Mr. Lennon!". As Lennon turned to see who had called his name, Chapman shot him five times with a Charter Arms .38 revolver he had purchased in Hawaii. Chapman's five shots inflicted four wounds. The bullets were hollow-pointed, and would explode into various pieces on contact, which would inflict the most damage. One of the bullets fatally pierced Lennon's aorta; causing severe blood loss. The NYPD officers who first responded to the shooting realized Lennon's wounds were so severe they decided to transport him in their police car to Roosevelt Hospital. Lennon was declared dead at 11:15 p.m after losing more than eighty-percent of his blood. Chapman sat down on the sidewalk after firing his shots and was arrested without incident.

He testified that he had also traveled to New York once previously with the intention of killing Lennon, but did not carry out the act. He also stated that his actions were taken as a means to get attention as he had come to view himself as a "nobody."

Chapman was charged with second degree murder and was found competent to stand trial. It was expected that he would plead insanity; instead, he lodged a guilty plea. He originally wanted a plea of insanity to be entered - on the advice of his lawyers - but then changed his plea after, "The little voices inside my head told me to plead guilty". Fenton Bresler points out that Chapman was allowed many unsupervised telephone calls during his pre-trial time in prison.

He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.

He is currently imprisoned at Attica State Prison, near Buffalo, in western New York. For years, he had to be completely separated from other prisoners because of concerns for his safety. He is an avid letter-writer and evangelical Christian. Chapman has refused to undergo therapy of any kind whilst in prison; claiming to have been healed of severe depression by virtue of his fervent Christian beliefs. He has been denied parole three times, in October of 2000, 2002, and 2004. There is at least one active church group which petitions to have him released. Prior to his parole-hearings several reports were released of threats to his life, should he ever be released.

Chapman had... became a born-again Christian, and also hospitalized for mental illness.

Cause. Effect.

Robertson Says God Told Him About Storms


By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 18, 2006
Filed at 12:15 a.m. ET

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) -- In another in a series of notable pronouncements, religious broadcaster Pat Robertson says God told him storms and possibly a tsunami will hit America's coastline this year.

Robertson has made the predictions at least four times in the past two weeks on his news-and-talk television show ''The 700 Club'' on the Christian Broadcasting Network, which he founded.

Robertson said the revelations about this year's weather came to him during his annual personal prayer retreat in January.

''If I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms,'' Robertson said May 8. On Wednesday, he added, ''There well may be something as bad as a tsunami in the Pacific Northwest.''

Robertson has come under intense criticism in recent months for suggesting that American agents should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip.

********************************************************************

ps. That's a pretty safe bet there Pat. There was a show on Weather Channel that said Seattle could get a tsunami. And, well, hurricane season for the east coast starts June 1 and all the weather experts have already said it could be as bad as last year. I guess God watches The Weather Channel too. We can only hope Pat is as bad at handicapping the weather as he is at handicapping horse races.

Jim

sigh... if these pontificating preachers are hearing from God, how come himself doesn't seem know whether a tsunami will hit or not? So if one does hit, he'll claim to have predicted it. And if not, "I didn't say it would, I said it's possible."

Someone should start comparing the preacher boys' prophecies with the annual psychic predictions in the National Enquirer. Wonder who is luckier and would average more fulfillments over time?

John

I really think we missed a HUGE opportunity when we didn't elect Pat as president when we had a chance. We would have had a president who not only told us what he thinks, but what God thinks as well! And the invasion and annexation of Canada would have probably gone off without a hitch!

I would ask why this idiot still has an audience, but then I see how popular Benny Hinn and the rest of those TBN fuck-tards are, and I have my answer.

But Boss, you will probably be with all those guys as Michael Marr used to say at the Easter Plays, "forever, and ever and ever and ever."

What does that mean?

If you're talking about Heaven or Hell, who knows who'll be there with us? I think there will be some surprises in both circumstances.

But I'm talking about behavior right here on Earth. Regardless of Pat's ultimate destination, he has made up some down right heinous lies right here on Earth. Do you honestly believe that Pat Robertson can predict that a tsunami will hit Seattle or that Pat has an exclusive hotline to God (that you don't have)? Benny Hinn may end up in Heaven, but he's stealing money from thousands of people who can ill afford it right here on Earth! Do you honestly believe that he can heal the sick (at one of his conventions, televised of course!) while tens of thousands die of starvation every day?

I don't speculate on who's going to Heaven or Hell, at least beyond ME. I'll leave that crap to Carl Stevens. When I arrive at my final destination, something tells me that who made it with me or not isn't going to be that important to me. If I go to Heaven, then I'll never feel bad again. If I end up in Hell, well, eternal torment will likely leave me little time to worry about Pat Robertson.

Pat Robertson and the rest of these sham "pastors" are causing trouble right here on Earth. Being "saved" is not a license to lie or commit any other sin.

Boss, I'm just havin' fun cause you are so easy to wind up! Just think, at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, you may find Pat Robinson or Benny Hinn sitting right next to you. And like you said, by the time we all get up there and are together with Jesus, this stupid stuff on Earth won't be worth a hill of beans. The funny part is, Boss, is that I agree with you. These guys drive me probably more crazy than they do you, but they rae probably saved, and we will probably be with them. But since I'm just an earthling now, I really do wish their television stations would have electricity problems or something...I don't know...

"They are probably saved and we will probably be with them..." <_< God I hope not.

Here's your eternal reward for being a good christian boy Harry, a seat at the Marriage Supper with Mikey Marr. Can I have ear plugs or an Ipod? At least if I'm not too close to Dean Lewis I might get seconds on the mashed potatoes.

Based on Jesus' dialog with the Pharisees, religous frauds will "probably" burn in hell forever. "Woe unto you, scribes, pharisees, HYPOCRITES...How will you escape the damnation of hell?"

Harry, I know what you mean, but you forget we will have our glorified bodies. Marr will be quiet and Lewis will be thin.

I AM easy to spool up when it comes to Carl, Benny, Pat, or any of these other frauds. I didn't used to get so chapped about it, I just changed the channel. Then Bad Religious Weirdness landed in my backyard............

I'll take my medication :lol:

Bad Religious Weirdness -- sounds like a Saturday Night Live skit! Performed the same night the "Pontificating Preachers" appear as the musical guests.

Here's some more info about Bishop Earl Paulk from here in Atlanta. It's interesting how the woman describes Earl's "authority". Sound like anyone you know?

SEX FOR SALVATION?

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: And good evening, everyone. Appreciate your joining us.
[...]

Tonight's "Eye Opener," sex for salvation, a trusted minister and shocking allegations of sin and scandal.

MONA BREWER, FORMER CHAPEL HILL HARVESTER CHURCH MEMBER: He said, well, I guess you will just have to take your clothes off because I'm going to have to love you. You know, I didn't want to do it. But what choice did I have?

ZAHN: What really went on behind the walls of this mega- ministry?
[...]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: I want to warn you now that you may not want the kids in the room for this next story. It deals with some disturbing allegations of sex, trust and betrayal. The central figures in the story, a major church in a big city, its respected leader, and a young woman who turned there for spiritual comfort after a crisis.

Here is David Mattingly with tonight's "Eye Opener."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MONA BREWER, FORMER CHAPEL HILL HARVESTER CHURCH MEMBER: And she died when she was 18 in a car accident suddenly. And I really had a real experience with God at that time.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twenty years ago and just a teenager, a young Mona Brewer was reeling from the death of her sister and turned to God. She found comfort in the welcoming arms of the Chapel Hill Harvester Church near Atlanta. At the time, it was one of the nation's growing charismatic mega- churches, with thousands of members led by the influential Bishop Earl Paulk.

BISHOP EARL PAULK, CHAPEL HILL HARVESTER CHURCH: I want you to praise God with us today.

BREWER: He had a -- a fresh word from God every time he came to the pulpit, which was several times a week. And it was amazing, you know, that God spoke to him such -- on such a frequency. And we were taught that spiritual authority was -- your level of spiritual authority was according to, you know, your revelation from God, or the things that God revealed to a person. And he was -- we were taught he was a prophet and an apostle in the church.

MATTINGLY: Mona says she came to view Paulk, a married father and grandfather, as a holy messenger of the lord selected by God to speak for the almighty. And, over time, Bishop Paulk's church became her life. Mona became a teacher in the church school, a soloist in the church choir. And, at age 27, she even married an associate church pastor, a union blessed by Paulk himself, a man she believed so close to God that his words could never be questioned.

BREWER: There were signs on the walls at the church. They didn't put scriptures on the wall. They put his sayings, his quotations. And one of them was, "The kingdom of God is built in trust." And we were taught that we were to trust our spiritual authority, and we were taught not to question it.

MATTINGLY: And so it went for years, Mona says, until, one day, Paulk asked for a meeting with her. It was a request that left her both elated and curious.

BREWER: I was just overwhelmed, because that was such a great opportunity. Nobody got to do that. I mean, he was awesome. I mean, everybody wanted to talk to him. And he just invited me to his office to talk to him for a few minutes. And that was really incredible.

(MUSIC)

MATTINGLY: She says this man she respected so much, it turns out, had been moved by her singing and wanted to take her to a higher level of ministry.

BREWER: And, at the end of the chat, he said, well what is it you want for me? And I thought to myself at the time, well, I didn't -- I didn't ask to come here. You asked me to come. But I couldn't say that, because that would sound verbose. And I couldn't say that. So, I just said, well, I guess I need a father, because that's what everybody was -- said. And I thought -- and I did. I thought, you know, well, that's a good thing to say. So...

MATTINGLY: But Mona was about to get something she never expected. She says, in her next few meetings with Paulk, his plans for her became shockingly clear.

BREWER: He said, well, I guess you will just have to take your clothes off, because I'm going to have to love you. Whoa. And I thought, oh, God. You know, I didn't want to do it, but what choice did I have? I mean, I have been taught for all these years not to question him. And I had this word from God. I mean, God obviously wanted me to do this.

And it was so foreign to me, but I -- I didn't know what else to do. I was on the spot. So, I took off my clothes, and we did it.

MATTINGLY: The tryst, she says, went against all she had been taught about marriage, sin and adultery. Then age 29 and a member of Paulk's church for 10 years, she was left confused, conflicted, and questioning what she knew about her faith.

(on camera): And, according to Mona Brewer, it was just the beginning. The liaisons continued, she says, and became frequent. She says that Paulk used the scriptures to justify the seemingly unholy behavior, claiming that God had elevated him above the sin of adultery.

BREWER: Because he said, you know, the adultery issue was for the little ones. It was for the -- the people, the, you know, commoners. It wasn't for people who God elevated and trusted with special things like this, relationships like this. And that's the way he explained it to me.

MATTINGLY: And now you were elevate as well?

BREWER: Oh, yes. God trusted me with this relationship. And that was major.

MATTINGLY: And how long did this go on?

BREWER: Fourteen years.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Fourteen years of alleged silence, secrets and sin, now spelled out in a stack of legal documents in a lawsuit filed in 2005 by Mona Brewer and her husband, Bobby, against Paulk, other church leaders, and the church itself.

The couple accuses Paulk of abusing his confidential relationship with Mona as her spiritual adviser and, through manipulation, coercion and deception, caused her to believe her only route to salvation was to engage in sexual acts, at the request of Bishop Earl Paulk.

But Paulk responded, denying all allegations, including that he coerced or manipulated Mona into having sex. Paulk and the others filed a countersuit seeking damages for libel and slander.

Mona claims, however, that Paulk's request didn't just involve having sex with him. She claims Paulk arranged for her to have sex with a member of his family and, once, with a visiting minister.

BREWER: Paulk brought him into Atlanta, had him stay in his own home, in the basement bedroom, where we always had sex. He wanted me to go downstairs and have sex with him, and then come upstairs and have sex with himself, and tell him all about it.

MATTINGLY: And the list of alleged encounters would not end here.

Mona Brewer claims there were times that, unknown to her, Paulk had others watching while they had sex.

Still, for years, she never denied him. All the while, she says, thinking her salvation depended on it. But eventually she says there was one Paulk perversion that even God couldn't make her do.

BREWER: The whole time I'm laying there praying, praying, God, you know, I will do anything for you. You know, I've proven that. But please don't make me do that. I don't want to do that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: So what does Mona Brewer say her pastor actually wanted? And what do other women of the church have to say? David Mattingly's report continues in just a minute, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: Can't tell from the picture, but a nice, crisp night out there tonight in New York City. We continue the story now of Mona Brewer. She says the influential pastor of her church abused his power and then pressured her into an affair that lasted more than a decade. And it grew more and more bizarre as time went on. Again, here is David Mattingly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MATTINGLY (voice-over): From the outside, Chapel Hill Harvester (ph) appears much more than a church. A campus of rolling hills gives way to schools and offices and a massive multi-million dollar cathedral. All of it built under the charismatic leadership of Bishop Earl Paulk, who is now named in a lawsuit by a devout former church employee, Mona Brewer, alleging acts of sexual coercion.

BREWER: I mean, it certain wasn't consensual in the way that you would -- say you were in the office working with someone and you were attracted to each other even though you had spouses, and then you just went ahead and -- that's consensual to me. This situation, I was brainwashed. And I was taught that he was infallible and I had to do whatever he said, not knowing it would lead to something like that.

MATTINGLY: What it led to was an alleged 14-year sexual relationship between Paulk and Brewer, in which Paulk is accused of also manipulating her into having sex with a member of his family and a visiting leader of another church.

Believing all the while, she says, that she was acting in the service of God. Mona, however, reached a critical moment when she says Paulk had the idea for her to pick up strangers in bars, have sex with them, then return and tell him all about it.

BREWER: The whole time I'm laying there just praying. I'm praying, God, you know, I will do anything for you. You know, I've proven that. But please don't make me do that. I don't want to do that.

MATTINGLY: Fortunately Mona says Paulk never asked her to go through with it. And eventually she says she found the strength to break away, reject what Paulk was telling her and leave the church that had become her entire life.

(on camera): People are going to see this interview and hear how you were doing this and talked into doing this and how you were manipulated. Sure, I can believe it once. OK, maybe twice, but for years?

BREWER: Well that's how much I believed it. But anyone who's ever been in a cult or known someone in a cult will immediately recognize it and understand. But if you've never been in anything like that, or related to it in any way, it does seem so bizarre, doesn't it?

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Brewer's reference to a cult is her way to describe the pressure she felt to comply with Paulk's wishes and her lawsuit does not allege that the church itself is a cult. Paulk's attorney describes Chapel Hill Harvester as a non-denominational, full gospel, charismatic church.

And in a statement to CNN, he writes, "It would be interesting to see what percentage of viewers would buy into this beautiful 40-year- old woman's preposterous sex fantasy."

The attorney claims it was Mona who seduced Paulk and only on one or two occasions. He says Paulk has openly confessed this to his congregation and he suggests that the Brewer's lawsuit is driven by money.

(on camera): Now almost 80-years-old, Paulk, according to his attorney, is recovering from recent cancer surgery and remains in very poor health. He has not commented publicly outside of church about the lawsuit. And Mona Brewer is not alone in her accusations.

Mona was talking about that she -- there was a time when someone was watching. That was you.

CINDY HALL, FORMER CHURCH MEMBER: Yes.

MATTINGLY: Did she know it at the time?

HALL: No. She did not know it at the time.

MATTINGLY: What did he get out of it? Did he have you come talk about what you saw?

HALL: Yes, well, he was turned on by the fact that I was watching while he was having sex with another woman.

MATTINGLY: And when she would leave, what would it then be your turn?

HALL: Yes.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Cindy Hall is also a married former member of the Chapel Hill Harvester Church, who claims to have also been manipulated by Paulk for 10 years into performing sometimes twice daily sexual acts with him and occasionally other men and women.

Now, a friend of Mona Brewer, Hall has provided a deposition for the lawsuit. And like Mona, she says she was made to believe she was serving God and was compelled by her faith to obey.

(on camera): After these episodes, did he ever pray with you?

HALL: Oh, yes. There were several occasions that he prayed with me.

MATTINGLY: Right there in the bedroom?

HALL: Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

MATTINGLY: What would he say?

HALL: Oh he'd pray with me during sex sometimes. He'd pray for me and, yes, during sex.

MATTINGLY: Pray for you?

HALL: Pray for -- pray for the relationship. Pray for -- yes, he would pray during -- sometimes during sex, yes. When I say pray over me, that's kind of hard to describe. MATTINGLY (voice-over): And hard to believe, according to Paulk's attorney, who writes "Cindy Hall's story is even more ludicrous and unbelievable that Mona's. All of it categorically denied by Bishop Paulk."

But through the years there have been other lawsuits and accusations. In 2001, there was another lawsuit by a woman claiming Paulk molested her as a child. That case ended with a confidential settlement. In 1992, seven women held a press conference to publicly accuse church members of sexual misconduct, one of those women accused Earl Paulk. They were sued by the church for libel and slander, but that libel case was later dropped.

(on camera): By coming forward, what do you hope to accomplish?

HALL: My goal is to help stop it and whatever I can do to expose, this type of behavior, you know, I'm willing to do that. And I'm willing to come forward and talk about my situation. Maybe somebody that sees this, that has been through a similar situation, maybe it will help them.

(voice-over): Cindy Hall says she is now in counseling. She and her husband left the church and have stayed together. But the experience with Bishop Earl Paulk, she says, has shaken her faith. For a time, Mona Brewer says, she was suicidal.

BREWER: And I thought of ways to do it. And every time I would think, "What if the kids think it's their fault?" And I couldn't deal with that, so that kept me, you know, going every day. Just putting one foot in front of the other.

MATTINGLY: For Mona Brewer, the final break came in March of 2004. She told her husband Bobby of the 14-year affair and the couple invited Paulk and his brother Don to their homes. These photographs reveal the result. The meeting ended when Bobby punched both of them in the face.

Mona says because her husband has stayed by her side, it has given her the strength to pursue their lawsuit. She is also thankful that her faith in God remains in tact.

BREWER: And I know there's a God up there that loves me in spite of everything and I know he forgives mistakes and I know that he will vindicate the righteous.

MATTINGLY: David Mattingly, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And Mona Brewer and Cindy Hall say they hope that by telling their stories, others will come forward from the church. The church, meanwhile, continues to hold regular services and no court date has yet been set.
[...entire relevant section...]

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SICK SICK SICK.

Some offerings for Southern Baptist leaders
by Steve Blow
The Dallas Morning News
June 26, 1998

Memo To: Southern Baptist Leadership.
From: A Proud Baptist.
Subject: A Modest Proposal.

First, let me offer my congratulations on another fine convention. Once again, the whole country is talking about the wisdom of Southern Baptists.

Directing women to be submissive was brilliant -- and long overdue. To be honest, I didn't think you could ever match the masterful Disney boycott of two years back. But, by golly, you came close by proclaiming the inferior status of women. As a follow-up on that issue, we ought to stress that women are responsible for all sin in the world (I Timothy 2:12). And they really need to keep quiet in church, saving questions for their husbands at home (I Corinthians 14:34).

Thanks to your leadership, we Baptists are on quite a roll. And that brings me to my reason for writing.

Before you know it, next year's convention will be here. We should be ready with another great Bible-based truth to proclaim. We must not nap and allow the "modern interpretation" folks to put their dangerous spin on our scriptures. So, here's my modest proposal for next year's convention: child sacrifice.

Remembering our children

I hope it's not too prideful on my part to imagine the big smile spreading across your faces right now. You're thinking: Of course! Now that we have put homosexuals and women in their place, it is only natural that we turn our attention to children. As everyone knows, children are out of control these days. But how different things would be if they understood their precious Biblical role as burnt offerings.

Of course, we all know the famous story in Genesis 22 of how Abraham stood ready to sacrifice Isaac, just as God had instructed. But I'm afraid we have dwelled too much on the happy ending -- the last-minute reprieve, the ram in the thicket and all that. When we read this story to children, we need to focus on how Abraham stacked up a good pile of firewood, how he tied up his boy and placed him on top of the waiting bonfire, how he pulled out his knife and prepared to plunge it into his son.

Oh, what a vivid picture for our children to contemplate! Just imagine how obedient children will become when parents occasionally cock their ears toward heaven, listening for God's instruction to turn them into holy toast. One little "What was that, God?" ought to get those bedrooms picked up and the trash taken out in a hurry!

Straight from the Bible

Let me suggest that we focus in Sunday school on another Bible story that doesn't get discussed much -- the story of Jephthah in the 11th chapter of Judges. As this leader of Israel prepared to go into battle, he made a vow to God: "If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering."

Of course Jephthah whipped those Ammonites like nobody's business. And we read: "When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines!"

She was so happy to see her daddy!

But of course, Jephthah wasn't happy to see his only child. "When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, 'Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break.' "

Well, children were better in those days, and the daughter said she understood completely. "But grant me this one request," she said to her father. "Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry." And the Bible tells us, "After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed."

Sad, isn't it? But there it is, straight from the Holy Bible, so I see no room for anyone to disagree.

Well, once again, bless you in your efforts to reduce our Bible to a plain and simple rule book. It's so much easier than having to read and pray and think.

Letter to Dr. Laura
by Kevin Harding

Dear Dr. Laura,

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's law. I have learned a great deal from you, and I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind him that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the specific laws and how to best follow them.

When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev. 1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. How should I deal with this?

I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as it suggests in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev. 15:19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

Lev. 25:44 states that I may buy slaves from the nations that are around us. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans but not Canadians. Can you clarify?

I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination (Lev. 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?

Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

Lay, Skilling convicted in Enron collapse By KRISTEN HAYS, AP Business Writer
13 minutes ago



HOUSTON - Former Enron Corp. chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were convicted Thursday of conspiracy and securities and wire fraud in one of the biggest business scandals in U.S. history.

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The verdict put the blame for the 2001 demise of the high-profile energy trader, once the nation's seventh-largest company, squarely on its top two executives. It came in the sixth day of deliberations following a federal criminal trial that lasted nearly four months.

Lay was also convicted of bank fraud and making false statements to banks in a separate, non-jury trial before U.S. District Judge Sim Lake related to Lay's personal finances.

The conspiracy conviction was a major win for the government, serving almost as a bookend to an era that has seen prosecutors win convictions against executives from WorldCom Inc. to Adelphia Communications Corp. and homemaking maven Martha Stewart. The public outrage over the string of corporate scandals led Congress to pass the Sarbanes-Oxley act, designed to make company executives more accountable.

Enron's collapse alone took with it more than $60 billion in market value, almost $2.1 billion in pension plans and 5,600 jobs.

"The jury's verdicts help to close a notorious chapter in the history of America's publicly traded companies" said Rep. Michael Oxley (news, bio, voting record), R-Ohio, co-author of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation. "Appeals aside, the end of the trial will mark the end of a dark era."

Enron founder Lay was convicted on all six counts against him in the corporate trial and all four in the personal banking trial. Former Chief Executive Skilling was convicted on 19 of the 28 counts in the corporate trial, including one count of insider trading, and acquitted on the remaining nine.

Lake set sentencing for Sept. 11. Lay's charges carry a maximum penalty in prison of 45 years for the corporate trial and 120 years in the personal banking trial. Skilling's charges carry a maximum penalty of 185 years in prison.

As Lake read the verdict from the bench, Lay tossed his head at hearing the first "guilty" on the conspiracy count. He clutched his wife's hand as he heard that word over and over again.

Lay sat with his wife, Linda; his daughter, Elizabeth Vittor, a member of his defense team; and Linda Lay's daughter, Robyn. As Lay clutched Linda Lay's hand, the three women leaned forward and began to sob quietly.

After Lake left the courtroom, Lay's family and some friends gathered around him as the ex-chairman, red-faced and fighting back tears, hugged them and thanked them for their support.

Skilling, sitting with his brother, Mark, showed no emotion when the verdict was read.

The sentencing will come five years almost to the day after Skilling sold 500,000 shares of Enron stock for $15.5 million, for which he was convicted of insider trading.

"Obviously, I'm disappointed," Skilling told reporters outside the courthouse. "But that's the way the system works."

"We're going to stand behind him," his lawyer, Daniel Petrocelli, said. "As I told him, we've just begun to fight."

Skilling's $5 million bond, which restricts him to the continental U.S., remains in effect. Lay, who surrendered his passport, posted a $5 million bond secured with family-owned properties at a hearing following the verdict.

The Enron founder was also ordered to stay in the Southern District of Texas or Colorado, avoid contact with any victim of the offense charged, report to pre-trial services regularly and must not own a gun or use alcohol excessively or drugs.

"I firmly believe I'm innocent of the charges against me," Lay said following the hearing. "We believe that God in fact is in control and indeed he does work all things for good for those who love the lord." *

Jurors found through their verdict that both men had repeatedly lied to cover a vast web of unsustainable accounting tricks and failing ventures at Enron.

The panel rejected Skilling's insistence that no fraud occurred at Enron other than that committed by a few executives skimming millions in secret side deals, and that bad press and poor market confidence combined to sink the company.

"I wanted very, very badly to believe what they were saying, very much so, and there were pieces in the testimony where I felt their character was questioned," juror Wendy Vaughan said after the verdict was announced.

Both men testified in their own defense.

The government's victory caps a 4 1/2 year investigation that garnered 16 guilty pleas from ex-Enron executives, including former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow and former Chief Accounting Officer Richard Causey.

All are awaiting sentencing later this year except for two, who either finished or are still serving prison terms.

"You can't lie to shareholders, you can't put yourselves in front of your employees' interests. No matter how rich and powerful you are, you have to play by the rules," prosecutor Sean Berkowitz told reporters outside the courthouse.

He expressed sympathy for the Enron employees who lost their life savings when the company collapsed.

"Nothing that happened today is going to bring that back for them. ... What we do hope is that today's verdict lets them know that the government will not let corporate leaders violate their trust and get away with it."

Prosecutor John Hueston, who sparred with Lay on the stand, said the founder had missed "a golden opportunity to save Enron.

"He made that choice to put his own interests ahead of that of the shareholders and investors. And he did that by choosing not to tell the unvarnished truth and he did it by choosing not to ask the hard questions."

Asked what was next, Berkowitz joked, "We're probably going to step aside and go get a well deserved drink and an afternoon off."

The Enron case tested the government's ability to prove complicated corporate skullduggery. Its implosion and the subsequent scandals scared off investors, increased regulatory scrutiny over publicly traded companies and prompted Congress to stiffen white collar penalties.

The government's vast investigation seemed to stall until Fastow pleaded guilty in January 2004 to two counts of conspiracy and paved the way for prosecutors to secure indictments against his bosses. Fastow also led investigators to Causey, who was bound for trial alongside Lay and Skilling until he broke ranks with their unified defense and pleaded guilty to securities fraud just weeks before the trial began.

"This verdict encourages us ... to continue to combat corruption wherever we find it," said Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, at the Justice Department in Washington. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was recused from the Enron case because he once was a partner at Houston law firm Vinson & Elkins LLP, which represented Enron.

*5600 people lost their jobs and retirements while Lay lied while making sure he kept his fortune. But hey, he's a man of God so let him go!

Minister to the Possessed


By SAKI KNAFO
Published: July 16, 2006

The symptoms of demonic attacks, listed on fliers that had been tacked to hundreds of lampposts and bus stops in southeastern Queens, were enough to stop travelers in their tracks:

“Feel pressed down on the bed and unable to get up even when awake.”

“Chased by animals in your dreams.”

“People suddenly change their mind about you without a good reason.”

That section of the borough is home to about 125,000 West Indians, many living in fear of curses that, they believe, can expose them to harm. The fliers offer help, promising that the accursed can “receive deliverance” at the LifeZone Church.

On a recent weeknight at the church, a 28-chair place of worship on the first floor of a wood frame house on 107th Avenue in Jamaica, the pastor, and the author of the flier, the Rev. Kehinde Olufemi Akojenu, announced that it was time to pray. Mr. Akojenu, a 32-year-old native of Nigeria, founded LifeZone late last year. He said that he could thank the fliers, which he wrote and began posting two months ago, for helping to fill his church’s seats.

Mr. Akojenu, better known to his parishioners as Femi, is not just preaching for religion. He is also preaching against certain religions — and that is the source of both his popularity and the resistance to his mission. He specializes in deliverance, a Christian practice of ridding people of evil spirits. For those who attend his church, the process often involves renouncing Haitian voudon (voodoo), Jamaican obeah and other African-derived religions, which Mr. Akojenu and many others whom he described as evangelistic Christians dismiss as forms of witchcraft.

At his church on that recent night, Mr. Akojenu barked out a string of impassioned declarations to his congregation. “When they consult some voodoo man somewhere or some obeah man somewhere,” he said, referring to any enemies of his parishioners, “wherever they go, whatever they put together, it will not work.”

Mr. Akojenu said he knew of three other local ministers engaged in crusades like his.

Marta Moreno Vega, founder of the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute in Midtown, described activities like those of Mr. Akojenu as a legacy of European colonialism. “How do you colonize?” she said. “By destroying people’s culture. What do you do? You write books and introduce materials that tell people their systems are primitive, backwards and evil.”

Others, however, share the attitude of Neil Waldron, a 46-year-old from Trinidad and Tobago who owns a cleaning business. Mr. Waldron, who attended LifeZone after seeing Mr. Akojenu’s fliers at a bus shelter, says practitioners of witchcraft have long bedeviled members of his family. “They were landowners,” Mr. Waldron said of his relatives. “They still own a lot of property — and a lot of people were jealous.”

On Public Land, Sunday in the Park With Prayer

By NEELA BANERJEE
Published: July 24, 2006
COWANS GAP STATE PARK, Pa. — This is what church looked like to Deana Wingert on a recent Sunday: the wind ruffled the lake behind the pulpit, evergreens towered above the pews, a yellow butterfly danced over a sunny patch of grass, and the scent of lighter fluid wafted through, followed by the smell of meat grilling.

Most members in the congregation did not know one another. They had come, like the Wingerts, to Cowans Gap, about 100 miles southwest of Harrisburg, to camp, swim and picnic. But it was Sunday, and for the 100 or so Christians with baseball caps and bug spray who wanted to worship, the park offered itself as their church.

“This is the day that the Lord has made,” the congregation sang to the cloudless sky, as the chaplain, Bruce Carriker, strummed the guitar and began the service. “We shall rejoice and be glad in it.”

From Memorial Day to Labor Day, 42 state, national and private parks in Pennsylvania hold nondenominational Christian worship services. It is the only state with such a program, said the Rev. Paul L. Herring of the Pennsylvania Council of Churches. The chaplains come from local towns and faraway states, as do the worshipers, mostly Protestants. Last year, 18,000 people attended services in Pennsylvania parks.

Cowans Gap usually has about 85 people at Sunday service — not a bad turnout for what is essentially a small-town church. Many people come because they would never go a Sunday without hearing God’s Word. But they are also drawn by the beauty and novelty of praying outdoors, and they become open, they say, to understanding their place in the world in a deeper way.

“It is enriching to be here,” said Ms. Wingert, 34, from nearby Fort Loudon, Pa., who comes regularly to the service with her husband and two young sons. “Your mind wanders a bit, but it focuses, too: on the fact that you’re in it, you’re in God’s creation, and that there is so much beyond your control.”

Although the services are held on state land, the chaplaincy program is financed with private money from local churches and denominational bodies. The program began 46 years ago when the Parks Department approached the Pennsylvania Council of Churches because many denominations wanted to preach and evangelize in the parks.

The council developed a program in which the chaplains conduct nondenominational worship services, and they are prohibited from proselytizing, said Mr. Herring, the council’s coordinator of leisure ministries.

Over the years, some people have objected to the religious services being held on public lands, but there has never been a formal complaint or organized opposition, said Mr. Herring’s administrative assistant, Audrey Crawford.

This year, 27 chaplains are working in the parks, Mr. Herring said. About half are ordained ministers; the rest are college and divinity school students and lay people.

Full-time chaplains usually live in trailers in nearby private parks, in apartments or in local homes. They receive $4,000 for the 15 weeks they serve in the program.

For Mr. Carriker, an intense, bustling man whose gray hair curls down to his shoulders, his only previous experience in Pennsylvania had consisted of two trips on the turnpike.

But after being checked out by the program’s selection committee (and the state police), the 49-year-old retired infantry officer and former minister in the Church of the Nazarene was assigned to Cowans Gap three years ago. At home in Kansas City, Mo., he works with juvenile offenders. Here, he said, he satisfies his itch to preach. He lives next to forested hills and a shimmering lake. He is a small-town pastor.

“After I came here,” Mr. Carriker said after a recent service, “I finally understood the idea of coming home to a place you had never been before.”

Over the summer, people use the parks as they would their own churches. At French Creek State Park, a large Alcoholics Anonymous group meets outdoors, many members arriving on their motorcycles. They like having the chaplain there, but the members run the meeting, Mr. Herring said.

Mr. Carriker holds a movie night on Fridays, and for reasons unknown to him, he must attend a sand castle fest on the lake’s shores on Saturdays. But mostly, he walks through the campgrounds and lets people know he is there to listen and pray.

And they turn to him. People like the couple whose son committed suicide years ago but loved the park like no other place. Or the veteran who asked Mr. Carriker to pray for his son in Iraq. Or the woman whose granddaughter is struggling with anorexia, as is Mr. Carriker’s older daughter.

“Sometimes the best thing you can do is keep your mouth shut and cry,” Mr. Carriker said. “You may read a Psalm once in a while, but sometimes there are no words you can speak.”

Though they have some guidance from the council, chaplains fashion their own services, and in general they are more informal than those in a traditional church setting. At Cowans Gap, the service is usually held at an amphitheater at the lake, and when it rains the service is in a nature center with displays of stuffed foxes and birds. People bring their own Bibles, sometimes their own chairs, and Mr. Carriker provides the songbooks.

Mr. Carriker uses the lectionary, a three-year cycle of readings from Scripture of the main teachings of Jesus, as the basis of his services. He always places a small wooden cross before him.

On a rainy Sunday, Mr. Carriker read passages from the Gospel of Mark, in which a storm on the Sea of Galilee threatens a boat carrying Jesus and the disciples. Jesus calms the storm and rebukes the disciples for their fear.

Mr. Carriker was a stranger to most of those before him. But he used the homily to share his life and to show that he knew theirs. He told them that though people strive for control of their lives, a storm always rises. It may be the dark spot on the X-ray, or the drugs found in an honor student’s locker, or a daughter’s anorexia, he said, his voice cracking just a little. It takes a lot of courage to have faith in the face of such storms, he said.

“But through faith, we can always figure out who is in the boat with us,” Mr. Carriker said, “because he is enough. He is always enough.”

John Morrow, 77, a retired Presbyterian minister from Acme, Pa., had heard homilies on the passage before, but none as good as in the nature center of this small park, he said. Mr. Morrow had heard something new, and the surprise fed his faith.

“When you’re traveling, it’s easy to assume that you’re alone in your faith,” he said. “But with all these people here together, you realize you are not alone, and it’s reinforcing.”

Jury deliberates in Andrea Yates trial By ANGELA K. BROWN, Associated Press Writer




HOUSTON - Jurors deliberating for a second day in Andrea Yates' murder trial asked Tuesday to review evidence from a key prosecution expert who said he found 60 examples of Yates knowing that drowning her five children in their bathtub was wrong.

The jury, which was sequestered for the night, already had deliberated longer than the four hours it took a first jury to convict her of murder in 2002. An appeals court overturned that conviction because erroneous testimony may have influenced jurors.

Shortly before a lunch break, jurors asked to review the slide presentation by Dr. Michael Welner, a forensic psychiatrist who evaluated Yates in May and testified that she did not kill her children to save them, as she claims, but because she was overwhelmed and felt inadequate as a mother.

Welner said that although Yates was psychotic on the day of the June 2001 drownings, he found multiple examples of how she knew that killing 6-month-old Mary, 2-year-old Luke, 3-year-old Paul, 5-year-old John and 7-year-old Noah was wrong.

Yates, 42, who has pleaded innocent by reason of insanity, is charged in only three of the children's deaths.

If the jurors find her innocent by reason of insanity, Yates will be committed to a state mental hospital, with periodic hearings before a judge to determine whether she should be released — though prosecutors weren't allowed to tell that to the jury. If convicted of murder, she will be sentenced to life in prison.

During closing arguments, Prosecutor Kaylynn Williford described Yates as a woman who was overwhelmed, failing at home-schooling and feeling hopeless and helpless.

Williford brought out the pajamas that the children died in. She also displayed the crime scene photos showing four of the children laid out on a bed and 7-year-old Noah still floating face down in the bathtub.

"Is that the act of a loving mother? Were there words of comfort? Were there prayers? They didn't want to die," Williford said. "The legacy of this case should be that you will hold her accountable for the deaths of these children."

The children's father, Rusty Yates, walked out of the courtroom as Williford described Noah's intense struggle in the water and showed a close-up photo of his face after he was removed from the tub. Rusty Yates, who has said he does not want Andrea to be convicted, divorced her last year and remarried in March.

Andrea Yates started to cry after those photos were shown, but at other times looked down at the defense table without showing emotion.

Yates' attorneys said she meets the state's definition of insanity: that a severe mental illness prevents someone who is committing a crime from knowing it is wrong.

Defense attorney George Parnham said Yates suffered from severe postpartum psychosis. He said Yates thought she was a bad mother and that Satan was inside her, and that she had to kill the children to save them from hell. (I wonder where she got that idea?) He said logic cannot be applied to a psychotic mind.

"It leaves intact the natural instincts of motherhood. You love. You nurture. You want to make certain that your child is safe from dangers. Every mother wants that," Parnham said. "But the danger that the mother perceives is twisted, and mom sees the danger where there is no danger."

A former Grand Rapids street preacher, whose fire-and-brimstone style led to him being exiled from his hometown, is embroiled in the case of a Texas mother accused of drowning her five young children.

Letters written by West Catholic High School graduate Michael Peter Woroniecki and his wife to Andrea Yates may have contributed to Yates' downward mental spiral, according to "Breaking Point," a book by a Texas author who researched the case.

Jury selection continues this week in the trial of Yates, 37, of Clear Lake, Texas. She is charged with capital murder after confessing to drowning her children in the family's bathtub June 20.

Her husband, Russell "Rusty" Yates, said his wife suffered from postpartum depression after the birth of their fourth of five children.

Andrea Yates has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. If convicted, she faces the death penalty.

Watching the trial closely is Suzy Spencer of Austin, Texas, who interviewed Rusty Yates shortly after his wife was charged with murder. Her book details the Yates' family life and Andrea Yates' alleged slide into mental illness and suicide attempts.

It documents the Yateses' lengthy relationship with Woroniecki and his wife, Rachel. It describes how Rusty Yates first met Woroniecki in the 1980s while he was a student at Auburn University and Woroniecki was preaching on campus.

Unlike his reputation here, Woroniecki, 47, was described by Rusty Yates as a "quiet and simple preacher" who asked "fat cat preachers" the kinds of questions he, too, wanted answered, Spencer said.

In the years that followed, the Woronieckis served as spiritual advisers to the Yateses, while Rusty Yates and his wife sent the Woronieckis money to support their ministry, she said.

Source: Did preacher sway Texas mom?, The Grand Rapids Press, Jan. 23, 2002


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The family had Bible study three nights a week in the living room because Rusty had not found a church he liked. He had learned the faults of organized religion from Michael Woroniecki, the traveling preacher who had sold him the bus. Rusty did not agree completely with the extreme views of his old spiritual mentor. But Andrea, moved by the repent-or-burn zeal, wound up exchanging letters with the preacher and his wife for years after they bought the bus. Woroniecki wrote that ''the role of woman is derived ... from the sin of Eve'' and that bad children come from bad mothers. Sometimes her family life seemed to parallel his: raising kids on the road, home schooling, God fearing. At one point, she asked Woroniecki to write a letter to help convert her Catholic parents. The influence worried the Kennedys. What had Rusty got her into? But even Rusty grew concerned with her obsession with Scripture. Still, he says, ''a guy cannot really complain that his wife is reading the Bible too much.''
Source: The Yates Odyssey, TIME, Jan. 20, 2002


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The Texas mother accused of drowning her five children in a bathtub last June told jail doctors she was possessed by the devil and that the sign of Satan, ''666,'' was marked on her scalp, Time magazine reported.
[...]

Author Suzy Spencer, who has just written a book about the case, told Good Morning America that Yates was profoundly influenced by a conservative minister, Michael Woroniecki, and his wife, Rachel, who had been close to the Yates' for years.

The minister teaches a very conservative form of Christianity that says that women should have a very subservient position in the home, and that Satan is constantly trying to drive people wrong, Spencer said. In correspondence, the couple bombarded the troubled and isolated mother with talk of Satan, and the idea that God can see people's wickedness, Spencer said.

In one letter, Rachel Woroniecki writes, ''Life is so short. It is so very cruel. It is so lonely and empty. You must accept the reality that this life is under the curse of sin and death.''

Spencer said she thinks that because of Yates' deteriorating mental condition, the mother of five may have taken the message more literally than she might have otherwise, somehow believing that her sadness and loneliness meant that she had been overtaken by evil.

''They constantly equate loneliness, depression, anything negative in your life is separation from God and alignment with Satan,'' said Spencer, the author of Breaking Point.
[...]

In talks with therapists later, Yates talked about the trip to Florida, and how at that time she first knew that the ''devil had gotten into her,'' Spencer said. According to correspondence between Yates and the couple, they talked about Christianity and sent her religious pamphlets to help her embrace religion, and save herself.

''According to the letters that I have read and looked at and studied, they hammered her about her faith,'' Spencer said. ''You know, it's now, you've got to do it now.''
Source: The Evil Inside, ABC News, Jan. 21, 2002


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While Woroniecki's roots are in Grand Rapids, his life has been on the road -- a traveling preacher who frequents college campuses, sporting events and any occasion that might garner national media attention. The father of six has set up his microphone and spouted his version of Christianity at Mardi Gras, the Rose Bowl and at least two Olympic games in the last decade.

Woroniecki got his master of divinity degree in June 1980 from the interdenominational Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., one of the largest seminaries in the country, school officials said.

Gerald Woroniecki said his brother's family spends most summers preaching in Mexico and hope to take their message to Central America. In the fall, they return to the United States, where he preaches at university campuses around the country.

"Some treat them well, but other places, they just mock him," Gerald Woroniecki said. "There are a lot of people who may have not heard the true Gospel."

He said his brother rarely returns to Michigan.

Woroniecki's early fame came on the gridiron, first playing for West Catholic High School, then as a fullback for Central Michigan University.

Raised a Catholic, Woroniecki became a born-again Christian in college. His mother gave him a Bible to read while he was hospitalized with a football injury. Once back on the field, Woroniecki wore a gold cross on his maroon CMU helmet.

By 1980, Woroniecki had morphed into one of Grand Rapids' most notorious street preachers. The former Southeast Side resident was in his mid-20s when he began using a bullhorn to deliver his scathing pronouncements of sinners. He frequently tried to shame people on downtown sidewalks, and outside public events, concerts and churches on Sunday mornings. He often walked through crowds wearing a homemade wooden cross attached to his belt.

While his belligerent evangelical style had some supporters, others complained it was ear-splitting and obnoxious.

While living in Grand Rapids, Woroniecki was arrested at least five times and charged with a variety of offenses, mostly disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace. He was convicted twice and acquitted once. Another trial ended in a hung jury.

The last arrest came in October 1981, when Woroniecki was accused of accosting a woman who had gone to the Grand Center to buy tickets for the Shrine Circus. He allegedly told the woman she was a sinner who was going to hell, berating her until she was in tears.

Faced with jail time if convicted, Woroniecki agreed to an offer by the city attorney's office: stop preaching and leave town in exchange for the charges being dropped. The deal ousting Woroniecki from Grand Rapids made national news.

Since leaving here, Woroniecki has claimed he has taken his biblical message across the United States and into Europe.

Source: Did preacher sway Texas mom?, The Grand Rapids Press, Jan. 23, 2002


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A man raised a wooden cross, and his voice, to approximately 350 "brainwashed" students between the Harold B. Lee Library and the Harris Fine Arts Center Thursday.

"You guys don't know Jesus Christ!" Michael Woroniecki shouted. "You are Mormon scumbags."

Woroniecki, his wife and six children handed out pamphlets while holding banners and a wooden cross. The disturbance began at 10:45 a.m. and continued for approximately 25 minutes until University officials handcuffed Woroniecki and sent the students to class.

"This was an intent to disrupt our campus," said R.J. Snow, academic advancement vice president. "All he wants to do is create a scene, and he certainly did that with his negative message."

Some students spontaneously began singing "We Thank T