Lethbridge’s own prosperity gospel proliferating T.V. station, the Miracle Channel is looking forward to reaping a harvest in their first big faith sowing campain of 2008, the Fresh Oil & New Wine campaign. Of course, this is in addition to all the fundraising done by the shows the station airs, including a number of those under investigation by Senator Grassley in the U.S. I’ve made some previous posts about this (e.g. Here). The Miracle channel hosts the shows of Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar and some of the other infamous six. Here is what M.C. says about thier own bid for more cash.
It’s a brand new year and a great time to be anointed with Fresh Oil and refreshed with the New Wine of the Holy Spirit. Tune into the Miracle Channel during this upcoming special Partner Week called Fresh Oil and New Wine, January 28 - February 2, 2008 and start 2008 off with a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit upon your life. …
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If you plan to be in the Southern Alberta area, please come down to the Miracle Channel studios and be part of our live studio audience at 4:00 PM each night. For more information call (403) 380-3399, fax (403) 380-3322, or email us at mail@miraclechannel.ca
Well, there you have it. You are invited.
There will no really “big” names attending, although they will be bringing up some folk from the U.S., including Fred & Val Bennett and Danny Diaz. An almost local speaker has the biggest claims about him in the blurbs.
Al Derry comes from the Dream Centre in Medicine Hat, Alberta and brings with him great enthusiasm for the things of God. His prophetic giftings will inspire you as he speaks words of knowledge into people’s lives. [Medicine Hat is about an hour and a half drive's away from Lethbridge]
WOW!!! “Prophetic giftings”! … Excuse me but what the @#*!!@#% is a “gifting”???? This is another one for my jargon file! (I’ve already commented on anointing and fresh oil there). What the hell is wrong with claiming the guy has a “prophetic gift”? Well, he probably hasn’t got that, either, but at least it doesn’t offend the ear. As far as ears go, why doesn’t he speak his words of knowledge to people? How the heck does someone speak knowledge ”into people’s lives”? Makes him sound like his preaching is some sort of channel for some sort of divine energy. Oh yeah, that is what is being claimed. My bet is that he doesn’t say anything the frequent churchgoer hasn’t heard a hundred times. One thing I have discovered is that there is often a very blurry line in much religious rhetoric between literal meanings of words and metaphoric and figurative meanings. It works like this: a common occurrence is described in ambiguous language that portrays it as a supernatural event. The rhtoric comes so frequently an dthe ambuity often so intractable, however, that many listeners or readers fail to distinguish between the ‘real world’ event or situation being described and the ’supernatual’ reality being alluded to. In fact, in many cases, the conversation moves so rapidly and so often between the mundane and the extraordinary that the audience really loses track of just what is being discussed. Our writer at the Miracle channel is playing the grey area for all it is worth.
Earlier in the advert, we read this:
As we celebrate this new season, let us discern prophetically what God is saying for 2008. We are praying Joel 2:19-24 over you: The LORD will answer and say to His people, “Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil, And you will be satisfied by them; I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations…the threshing floors shall be full of wheat, And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.”
Ok, the biblical book of Joel does say what the Miracle Channel says it says. But how does reciting it back to God constitute “prophetically discerning” what God wants to say to the website’s audience? If someone asked God (on the assumption that he is there to answer requests) what he wanted to say to (as opposed to through) the Miracle Channel perhaps he would advise them to ignore Joel and read the Gospel of Matthew and then look in a mirror. Here are a few selections that come to mind:
Matthew 6:5 “And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
Matthew 13:22 “And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Matthew 23:14 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, even while for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you shall receive greater condemnation.
Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.
The book of Matthew seems to have the largest number of uses of the word “hypocrites” in the Christian Bible (the verses above are taken from the New American Standard translation). It is interesting that a lot of these uses are in the context of chastising “scribes”. The fundamentalist rhetoricians and authors whose countless books are pedaled on every televangelist’s program seem to me to be the a valid modern equivalent of those who Jesus is remembered as criticizing. Scribes;scribbling and wittering away about “scripture” and interpreting it to suit themselves.
The Pharisees are castigated in the New Testament for their alleged strict attitude toward Jewish law, including the refusal to heal on a Sabbath. Jewish law, often derived from the teachings of the Pharisees, however, encourages the breaking of Sabbath law to save a life. The Pharisees are known for being the ancestors of “oral torah” the creative interpretations of Torah originally transmitted orally and then collected and greatly expanded in the Mishnah and Talmud.
The Pharisees really get bad press by the Christians scribes in the New Testament. This may be because key elements in Pharisaic theology were so similar to important Christian ideas: beliefs in the eternal soul, judgment and resurrection, and divine control of history while allowing for free will. If the NT writers could call the pharisaic movement a study in hypocrisy, one wonders what they would call the chief practicioners of the prosperity gospel and the fundamentalists who churn out new revelations, detect “shifts in the heavenlies“ and plead with people to give more and more, week after week, while glorying in the chance to claim humility in front of a TV audience.
