Saw this on the old Facebook and thought some of you might find it entertaining.

 Here is the latest "business" meeting being held at City Boobie Church.

MARKETPLACE IMPACT – October 17, 5pm
A special event with Pastor Frank and Team
Inviting all business owners, professionals, managers, and salespeople to join us at the Rocky Butte Campus for a time of encouragement and inspiration for all our marketplace people. It will be a great time of prayer, worship, personal ministry, and an impacting word about how we are placed in today's marketplace by God so that we can make a difference. Connect your job, business, and life purpose into one package with optimism and passion. God wants to bless you so that you can be a blessing and be a person who is mightily used by God. This is your event. Come expecting to be inspired and to meet people just like you and to enjoy a fantastic dessert buffet after the meeting.

As you all know, Christ came into the world, not to save the world, but to help the rich get richer. 

Or as the old Bible verse goes, "It is easier for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than it is to poke a came in the eye with a needle."

Filed under, Why Am I Not Surprised?. The Pew Forum asked folks about the Bible, Christianity and other religions, and they found that Atheists know more about Religion than any of the other groups.

Researchers from the independent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life phoned more than 3,400 Americans and asked them 32 questions about the Bible, Christianity and other world religions, famous religious figures and the constitutional principles governing religion in public life.

On average, people who took the survey answered half the questions incorrectly, and many flubbed even questions about their own faith.

Those who scored the highest were atheists and agnostics, as well as two religious minorities: Jews and Mormons. The results were the same even after the researchers controlled for factors like age and racial differences.

It appears that religious folks treat Religion like I treat Dancing With the Stars. I know it exists, and I tell people I like it. But I'm not sure I've ever actually seen the show.

I find this to be highly entertaining and somewhat telling of how far off track American churches have become.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7_dZTrjw9I

As someone who church shopped for a few years I can attest to many being this way.  Thank God I'm now in a great one.   JAVALUJAH!!!!

Ted Haggard is returning to the church. However, this time he's coming back, not as a pastor, but as a Christian Businessman.  And as many of you know, a Christian Businessman is just like any other businessman, except when he loses money, he blames the devil.

From the article:

– "Earlier this month, a guest took the pulpit at Open Bible Fellowship in Morrison, Ill., a 350-member church surrounded by cornfields. The speaker was an insurance salesman from Colorado named Ted Haggard.

The former superstar pastor, disgraced two years ago in a sex-and-drugs scandal, had returned — this time as a Christian businessman preaching a message that was equal parts contrition and defiance. Haggard linked his fall to being molested in second grade and apologized again." –

You see. Haggard didn't cheat on his wife, lie to his church and use illegal drugs because he's a sinful human being. No he did all that because he was molested in 2nd grade.  And as many of you church-goers understand, the key to success in the ministry is to be molested at an early age.

Update: Because that last sentence seems to have hit a nerve, let me just say that this is something JP and I have been joking about for years. Primarily because our youth pastors at City Bible Church (Bobby Mac and Dougie) both admitted to being abused when they were children.  It's as though past abuse is a pre-requisite for becoming a youth pastor.   

Last week, Wendell Smith (Pastor of the City Church) updated his blog, which he usually gets around to doing once or twice a year. (Not a committed blogger.) 

In his most recent blog he tackled two recent scandals to hit the Evangelical world. The problems with the pastor in Lakeland Florida, and the perfectly-healthy-duper who wrote the song Healer.  

Here's a segment from Smith's blog: Hot Questions and Cool Answers

What did you think of the Florida Revival? And will it continue? I think it was genuine, with authentic healings. Although there was questionable doctrine promoted at times, many people were helped in the name of the Lord. Revivals historically are plagued with accompanying excesses and ample criticism but overall they help move the Church closer to a lost and needed truth. I am also thankful a group of godly Pastors stepped in to provide accountability for the Evangelist and subsequently provide covering (“love covers a multitude of sins”) and correction for him. We pray that true restoration will work effectively in his life (Gal. 6:1-5).

Should we still sing Mike Guglielmucci’s song, “The Healer”? Of course! That beautiful song belongs to the Body of Christ, and besides it was the cry of a sin sick soul that really did need the Lord to heal, (Psalm 41:3,4).

Not too shabby, Smith, not too shabby. Your response to "The Healer" is quite impressive.

A couple readers sent in this article about a man who is suing his church after he got "slain in the spirit".

Now he wants Lakewind Church to pay $2.5 million for medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering.

Matt Lincoln is suing after the church's insurance company denied his claim for medical bills, he said.

The 57-year-old has had two surgeries since the June 2007 injury but still feels pain in his back and legs.

He said he was asking God to have "a real experience" while praying.

Lincoln said he has fallen from the force of the spirit before but has always been caught by someone.

Lawyers for the church said other congregants saw him on the floor laughing after his fall. They said he failed to look out for his own safety.

I'm sure this will settle out of court, but this is one case I would love to see go to trial. First person I would call to the witness stand would be the pastor, and ask him to explain his power to "slay people in the spirit".

And remember sir, you're under oath.