Apparently, the victim mentality amongst the apostate church is not just from today. No one can make anyone look like a buffoon. We do that all by ourselves. Reporters ask questions but we answer them. We decide how to answer them. If we cannot answer without looking or sounding buffoonish, then I would suggest that we either not take the question or not answer it. Either way, it is not the fault of the person doing their job. Keep in mind the two scandals that prompted Buckingham to first write this and Charisma to reprint it today with selective editing to deceive their readers. Research on James Watt reveals that he was the most horrific Secretaries of the Interior EVER. He personally oversaw the destruction of a great deal of God's creation in this country and when he left that position, he went to lobby for building companies seeking contracts from the government. In 1995, after Buckingham had passed, Watt was indicted on 18 felony counts including perjury, obstruction of justice and influence peddling in trying to get those government contracts for his employer. There was one story however that fits the outrage that Buckingham references. A quote was attributed to Watt that was reported as, "After the last tree is felled, Christ will come back." One writer named Glenn Scherer attributed this quote to him and then it was repeated by journalist Bill Moyers. When it was discovered, Watt never said it, the error was corrected and Moyers apologized. Hardly the vast conspiracy of the boogeyman media that Buckingham was making it out to be. Ironically, Watt did however, say in response, "I know no Christian who believes or preaches such error. The Bible commands conservation"that we as Christians be careful stewards of the land and resources entrusted to us by the Creator." Except he was not a faithful steward of land and resources and his record proves that. The Charisma rewrite concludes:
"Following my brief foray into the world of the secular media during the PTL scandal, I quickly realized no good can come from Christians being interviewed on programs such as "Larry King Live," "Nightline" or "60 Minutes." But following the most recent scandal, I saw publicity-hunting preachers by the score drooling to have their pious faces making nonsensical statements on the tube." - Jamie Buckingham
Now, what is interesting here is that line "following the most recent scandal" is NOT what Buckingham wrote in 1988. The actual line is "following the Swaggart scandal." Either Charisma was trying to not rehash the Jimmy Swaggart scandal or there was an even more nefarious reason for this willful deception. Remember that Charisma linked the Robert Morris scandal article in the very first line of this piece to deceive the readers into thinking this was written today, and about the scandals rocking the NAR church. Thank God for an independent media that is in the business of reporting the truth or else we may never have heard about the Morris scandal. Thank God for independent Christian discernment ministries that pursued these truths until Morris had to slink away in disgrace. I am not sure who Buckingham was referencing that was on news shows with drooling pious faces or who Charisma wanted you to think this was referencing today and I do not really care. The PTL scandal was a disgrace for the church and the Morris scandal was worse. The fault for those scandals lay with the criminals who were at fault, not the secular media for correctly exposing them.
Look, if Charisma wanted to reprint Buckingham's article to draw what they thought were fair comparisons to the Morris scandal that would be fine. They would be wildly wrong but at least they would not be maliciously deceptive. I understand though why they assumed they could get away with it. They routinely platform articles written by the worst charlatans and hucksters in the apostate church today who constantly butcher scripture. They do so, because they rely on their readers remaining ignorant and never doing the work of a Berean. I guess they figured if they do not bother to check the bible, why would they bother to check why a man who died the year Bill Clinton became president would suddenly be writing an article today about Robert Morris. Charisma wants their readers to only follow them, so they can control them and the information they take in. Pay no attention to the sex offenders behind the curtain, just hate the little dog who pulled it back.
Reverend Anthony Wade - August 29, 2024
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