{"id":942,"date":"2013-01-05T18:02:26","date_gmt":"2013-01-05T18:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/incongruentelements\/?p=942"},"modified":"2013-01-05T18:02:26","modified_gmt":"2013-01-05T18:02:26","slug":"i-visited-the-word-of-faith-family-church-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/incongruentelements\/2013\/01\/05\/i-visited-the-word-of-faith-family-church-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"I visited the Word of Faith Family Church — Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

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You can find Part One of this post here<\/a>. Now… the sermon:<\/p>\n

The minister spoke on Isaiah 9:6 and proceeded to list many names for Jesus. He then launched into how the \u201cworld\u201d is full of problems and sin. Everything is filled with darkness and the enemy is the \u201cdevil.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this point I was thinking he wasn’t speaking as much as he was spilling platitudes while reciting a list of these alternate list of \u201cnames\u201d for Jesus.<\/p>\n

Organization wasn’t a strong suit in this talk. I considered speaking with him about various outline methods but thought better of it.<\/p>\n

As he rambled, injecting a little John 3:16 into his talk, I couldn’t help but notice the woman in front of me had failed to groom the back of her head. I struggled mightily to resist the urge to fluff it. I pulled my attention from the rats nest in front of me and refocused on the sermon.<\/p>\n

The minister was discussing how \u201cevil reigns\u201d in \u201cthe world.\u201d \u201cThe greatest tragedy is when good people do nothing and wonder why evil happens… then they blame god!\u201d He then complained how \u201cwe\u201d have taken god out of christmas so as not to offend \u201ctwo percent of the population.\u201d<\/p>\n

He didn’t provide a citation. At this point, I leaned towards my husband and whispered, \u201cThat’s bullshit.\u201d Right after I said it, I hoped nobody heard me.<\/p>\n

Then he moved on to the recent shootings in Connecticut. He explained, \u201cThe devil visited Newtown\u201d and \u201csin removed the protection of god.\u201d He explained the Jesus is the only \u201cway\u201d and this is a FACT, it’s also known as \u201cTruth.\u201d (I couldn’t follow the reasoning.) Some of the audience must have looked confused at that statement because he clarified by saying: Fact is, you’re broke. Truth is, you’re not.<\/p>\n

OK. That cleared it up. (?)<\/p>\n

He continued, \u201cGod didn’t allow the Newtown tragedy, sin did.\u201d God turns his back on sin, sin opens the door to destruction because America has disregarded the Word and its promises and removed God’s hand of protection. After all… where is the outcry over abortion? (He switched topics again, it appears.)<\/p>\n

At this point, he had everyone look up verses. Sadly, we were the only people without Bibles. There were none in the pews either… no hymnals… nothing. Hmmmm…<\/p>\n

\u201cSin opens the door to evil. The church looks like the \u201cworld.\u201d Church folk steal, gossip, and lie.\u201d He told the congregates to \u201cshore up your life!\u201d<\/p>\n

The sermon didn’t seem to contain a unified theme (or \u201cgolden thread\u201d as we call it in the world of copywriting), instead I found myself presented with one uncited claim after another:<\/p>\n