Something has changed in some Christian churches, where there used to be preaching and teachings about righteousness and God. Being a member of a church meant that there were “kindred spirit brothers and sisters,” in addition to reverence for the Holy Bible. Preaching and teaching was accepted as God’s Word, even if the congregation didn’t always comply with those teachings.
Barbara Ann Jackson (Law & Grace, Inc) says these things no longer seem to be true, as government and church join together to enrich elites and re-victimize Katrina victims.
In the “good old days,” there were more professing Christians, but their numbers seem to have dwindled. Those professing Christians went to great efforts to fulfill their own personal ministries (1 Cor.3:9; 2 Cor.3:6), emulating Acts 2:42-47. People seemed to care for each other more then. They also cared for families, as though they were an extended family. There was more encouragement and uplifting within the congregation, and more sharing of resources. They would even care enough to scold each other’s children for misbehavior at church, home, or school.
Back then, between the 1960s and 1980s, society held together like a family, and it seemed a major factor in society’s well-being was families and church-going and religious people.
Barbara Ann Jackson remembers that popular songs outside the church inspired “straightforward sentiment, decency, merriment, and endearment.” Read more about this in her story Hocus-Pocus Religion, Politicized Churches and Federally-Funded Oppression. Those special songs include “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” (Stevie Wonder), “Lets Stay Together” (Al Green), and “Lost Without You” (Bebe & Cece Winans).
Fast Forward To Today
Now, people seem to purposely hurt and deceive one another. Taking ‘sweet counsel together at the house of God’ (Psalms 55:14) no longer keeps them civilized. Words from the pulpit tend to be more about fame and fortune, or health and wealth, rather than righteousness and God. This talk more easily fosters social hostility, lasciviousness, envy and avarice. Ms. Jackson says this is not the way it was meant to be, because “Jesus was not a celebrity preacher, and He “made Himself of no reputation” (Phil.2:7).
It seems that some church pastors no longer see themselves as shepherds of their flocks. Instead, the pastors and their families use the church to engage in personal business ventures. There are also political under-the-table enticements, that appear to be to help the churches gain and maintain constituents.
Whereas churches used to have governing boards, now those churches are “owned and autonomously controlled by preacher & wife teams,” Ms. Jackson says. She says these churches are “operating in stark contradiction to Biblical precepts.” She quotes John MacArthur’s post, Unholy Trinity, in which he states: “religious quacks are actually multiplying at a frightening pace.”
Katrina Disaster Victims Re-Victimized
Pervasive predatory targeting of disadvantaged people is taking place in Shreveport, Louisiana. There, disaster fraud and exploitation are in full swing, perpetrated by some homeland security people, church pastors, church members, politicians, and jurists.
An important paragraph in Barbara Ann Jackson’s story on this issue says the following:
Moreover, federal programs and grants awarded to churches for addressing social poverty, and other maladies are not intended for accomplishing “sealed” and “rigged” bidding, and “non-competitive” businesses and careers for pastors’ families. Reiteratively, federal programs and funding are not to be transformed into private, family-owned church companies. Federal procurement statutes require government funding recipients to “take affirmative steps” to give economic opportunities to individual and small businesses.
Ms. Jackson says some church leaders and pastors are involved in deceptive trade practices and undisclosed “identity-of-interest” relationships. There is also collusion, illegal nepotism and non-compliance with federal contract procurement.
If all of this is true, it shows a menacing shift in Homeland Security, in which there is collusion for enrichment of people and entities, rather than serving the citizenry. Ms. Jackson sets out the beneficiaries of government programs and federal funding. She says there is little or no government oversight, and when wrongdoing by “elites” is uncovered, there are “slaps on the wrist.”
While President Bush’s faith-based initiatives gained him the title best friend of church ministers and preachers, President Obama’s Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships program render him best friend of everybody who wants federal program funding.
Outsourcing American Jobs Overseas
Now, tax-exempt businesses and organizations, churches and pseudo accredited Bible colleges partner with anonymous businesses, companies and Shell Corporations. These collaborations are well-supported by unlawful non-competitive contracts and offshore tax abuses that drain the United States treasury. Americans are thereby financing offshore operations, and American jobs are being outsourced with taxpayer money.
Post-Katrina, disaster foundations, charities, businesses and corporations are able to ride federal disaster funding “gravy trains.” The federal government has always been good at allocating huge sums of taxpayer funds, but not of tracking what happens to those funds.
For more detailed information, read Hocus-Pocus Religion, Politicized Churches and Federally-Funded Oppression on the lawgrace website.
