Christianity has been hijacked in the bible belt. Have you noticed this where you live?

Read "The Family" - The Secret Fundalmentalism at the Heart of American Power - by Jeff Sharlet
You will undestand what is going on.

http://jeffsharlet.com/

“It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds”
-Sam Adams

challenge our church leaders for the truth.

This is what the men in power use religion for:

Their design was to assure that any discussion of truth and moral authority would be funneled into personal religious views and instantly “hijacked” by petty hatreds, ancient grudges and disagreements that serve one purpose only. To divert, distract and ultimately, prevent each man from accessing the truth and his own moral authority...."

Not true of all, but from what I have seen, they have been successful.

The rabbis are in prison for selling organs....further down the cell block you have the pedophile priests and then the TV evangelists who use the money for living large.

This would not be a problem if each of us stopped looking at experts to tell us what to do and rely on our own hearts.

The core of all religions is..".treat others as you would wish to be treated."

Making this a complicated intellectual exercise is how the simplest of the simple..".love as God loves..." is turned into a thing to kill for.

Thanks for he post.

Political factions have been hijacking religion since Constatine, and probably even further back.

The only difference now is the presentation style to the sheeple.

Hence the wisdom of the Founders in separating Church and State...

Here church has been turned into a high school popularity contest all about million dollar megachurches that look like six flags over Jesus.

Church is better when everyone sticks to the personal and stays away from politics. Politics is crass.

Just to point out the obvious, people who are attracted to churches are eager to be brainwashed and poisoned with fantasy and emotional nonsense. They are ripe for the picking by any kind of propaganda. They are highly susceptible to deception.

"I'm ashamed of myself for not having more faith. I'd better get in the habit of going to church more often so they can make me feel the faith."

Perhaps the reason a person doesn't have much faith is that they inherently have enough common sense not to believe in fantasy worlds.

Peddle New 'Protocols,' Seek Military Dominion

Armies of the world are being filled up with soldiers -- and even more so, with officers -- on fire with the deranged certitudes of violent fundamentalism. Their enemies are agents of absolute evil. And there is no such thing as "collateral damage," no killing of innocents in their holy war -- for God Himself has targeted them for destruction, just to prove how righteous His warriors are.

please read in full
http://baltimorechronicle.com/2009/072109Floydtoo.shtml

also read this one:

The Real World: Mercenaries, Murder and the American Way

Who could possibly have suspected this? A Beltway-wired mercenary company hired by the American government to act as freebooting muscle in the war of aggression against Iraq has been accused -- in sworn affidavits from company insiders -- of operating a murder and gun-running racket in order to push its hard-right owner's religious extremism. Can such a thing even be contemplated? Why, the next thing you know, they'll be telling us that good, clean-limbed, all-American agents used KGB-derived torture tactics against helpless captives or something!

And yet, incredible as it may seem, insiders from the company once known as Blackwater (and now going under the brand-name disguise of Xe) have given sworn statements implicating the company and its founder, Eric Prince, in killing Iraqi citizens for God and profit (as if there were any difference between the two amongst our gilded militarists), running guns to various militant factions in the conquered country -- and murdering potential witnesses who might testify in investigations of Blackwater's nefarious doings.
http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/1-lates...

and this

Christians Largely Mum on Torture

A majority (54 percent) of those who attend church regularly said torture could be “justified,” while a majority of those not attending church regularly responded that torture was rarely or never justified.

I am not a psychologist or sociologist. But I recall that one of the first things Hitler did on assuming power was to ensure there was a pastor in every Lutheran and Catholic parish in Germany. Why? Because he calculated, correctly, that here would be a force for stability for his regime.

please read in full
http://baltimorechronicle.com/2009/073109McGovern.shtml
*****
"I truly wish that real life would no longer surpass the worst excesses of my nightmarish imaginings... Arthur Silber **

~ I recieved this message in an email this morning! I guarantee you that everyone else on the recieving end of this email is now shaking in their boots! ~ Baaaa!

"Subject: ATTACK on CHURCH OF CHRIST in Lubbock , TX

Please read all of this even if you are not a member of the Church of Christ……..Everyone needs to hear this and PLEASE pass it on to others……This is what every religion will face in the near future if not all ready. The Muslims are here….

Serious and scary.

This comes from an elder at Green Lawn Church of Christ in Lubbock .

For the last 8 years I, along with ----- ------ and ------- ------- from the Green Lawn congregation have traveled to a prison every third Sunday to conduct bible studies, worship, visits and encourage the inmates who have become followers of Jesus Christ. The numbers are growing and we have been very encouraged with the work. However yesterday, we got a taste of what I believe is the future of Christianity in America .

Just before our assembly began about 15 inmates who have never been to our assembly showed up and asked if they could join us in our worship. Our Christian brothers welcomed them. As one of our brothers (who is an inmate) began the assembly several in the group, (who were Muslim) began to openly and rudely interrupt the assembly by asking questions and challenging the young Christian man who was trying to start the assembly by reading scripture. It became very apparent that these visitors did not come to listen but to interrupt and indoctrinate. They were starting to become belligerent and finally I stood up and told them that this was a Christian assembly for the purpose of worshipping the Creator of the Universe, and His Son, and that they were free to stay, learn and observe, but that it was neither the time nor place for such a public debate.

This seemed to calm them down only for the moment. The guard who was outside the room heard their shouting, stepped in and ordered the men to be quiet or leave. Later ----- ------ had to again address the Muslims because of their constant interruptions of the assembly. Later, when our brothers in Christ began passing the plates for the Lord’s Supper, the leader of the radical group grabbed a plate of bread, dumped it in his lap and told the whole assembly to “Eat this.”

At that point some of the Muslims came over to me and the other elders and started calling us Satan worshippers, white pigs and evil. They vowed to stop our preaching and teaching of Jesus. I thought, “How blessed we were to be verbally attacked because of the Name of Jesus.

Remember it was Jesus who said, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11, 12). I believe that If it were not for the presence of the guard it would have become very violent, and possibly deadly. It will not surprise me that our continued visits will eventually lead to our being attacked and harmed.

Our guard was a female about the age of 50, and it is my firm belief that if those men had wanted to, they could have harmed or even killed us yesterday before she could have received the help needed to squelch the attacks. It is my conviction that yesterday was a glimpse of the future for all Christians in America . I also believe that any faith that is not deeply rooted in Jesus will not survive the future when the attacks come. Maybe this is God’s way of getting our minds back on the important things in the kingdom of His Dear Son . I have also concluded that we must pray for those who have been too deceived by the teachings of a man named Mohammed. I ask for prayers for me, not necessarily for my safety, but that God will continue to give me the boldness, wisdom and courage to continue preaching and teaching the gospel about Jesus Christ and Him crucified and the kingdom of God . All praise and Glory to Him.
----"