TheScroogeReport

Gotta love this quote: “The Gospel . . . must take precedence over culture. Homosexual practice violates the order of life given by God in Holy Scripture.” - Archbishop Drexel Gomez of the West Indies

From AP:

Two U.S. Priests Defect To Anglicans in Kenya

NAIROBI - Two American priests were consecrated Thursday as Anglican bishops in Kenya, the latest in a string of conservative priests who are defecting to African churches in a dispute over gay clergy.

Bill Atwood of Texas and William Murdoch of Massachusetts left the Episcopal Church — the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion — because it allows the ordination of gay priests.

“The Gospel . . . must take precedence over culture,” said Archbishop Drexel Gomez of the West Indies, one of 10 Anglican leaders or representatives who attended the ceremony in Nairobi’s All Saints Cathedral. “Homosexual practice violates the order of life given by God in Holy Scripture.”

Read Full Story/AP

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get it all?’”

This Week’s Top Scrooge - August 31, 2007   

By ALEXANDER
TheScroogeReport.com  ’

How many church sermons will include the story of Leona Helmsley and her dog, Trouble, this Sunday?

In case you missed it, Trouble…her pet…inherited $12 million. And for good measure, Trouble’s “fortunes” won’t be over even after her life ends. “I direct that when my dog, Trouble, dies, her remains shall be buried next to my remains in the Helmsley mausoleum,” she ordered. And she left another $3 million to ensure that final resting place is well maintained, including money for a yearly wash or steam-cleaning.

Twelve million dollars. That’s two more million dollars than two of her grandchildren are getting combined ($5 million each) and $12 million more than her other two grandchildren are getting…because they are getting zippo as in nada, nothing, and zilch.

I don’t make this stuff up, folks. Read the online story at CityNews.ca if you want.

If this is not a modern day parable to be told to congregations everywhere on Sunday, then I don’t know what is.

Now, I don’t know Helmsley personally, but apparently she already had the reputation before her death last month of being quite the scrooge. Therefore, considering her previous rap and this latest revelation, she is awarded This Week’s Top Scrooge dis-honor posthumously.

While I’m having some fun with this, I am also sad. It’s tragic to hear about what some people put their stock in. Yes, Helmsley did give money away to charities, but that doesn’t take the sting out of knowing that the woman more than likely is now suffering for eternity. Instead of hearing about any relationship with God she might have had we are left with learning more about the “Queen of Mean,” as she was known in many circles.

How sad…how very sad, indeed.

A friend of mine emailed me some verses this week with part of his message regarding the $12-million-inheritance-to-dog story reading: “it kinda recalls the passage in Luke 12: 13-21, and that you really can’t take it with you…God does have a fun sense of humor, you know???”

Well, I am sure He does. Meanwhile, from Luke:

Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.”

Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?”

Then he said, “Beware! Don’t be greedy for what you don’t have. Real life is not measured by how much we own.

“And he gave an illustration: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. In fact, his barns were full to overflowing.

So he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store everything.

And I’ll sit back and say to myself, My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!’

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get it all?’

“Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.” - Luke 12:13-21

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Past Scrooges:

Military Veteran: Evangelism is a Dirty Word When It Comes to U.S. Sponsored Care Packages, Troop Shows

1-800-FLOWERS Lawsuit: Texas Man’s Dirty Laundry Aired in Public…World!

Sean Penn Takes ‘Love Thy Enemy’ to Another Level

More…

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Let’s pray for a blessed transition for the hostages who suffered immense trauma, including the loss and killing of two of their friends, one being their pastor.

From AP: 

JANDA, Afghanistan — Taliban militants released the final three South Koreans they had been holding on Thursday, bringing to an end a six-week hostage drama, witnesses said.

The two women and one man were covered in dust as they walked out of the desert, accompanied by three armed men, and were turned over to waiting officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said.

Earlier Thursday the Taliban released four of the hostages, handing them over to Red Cross officials on a road in Janda area in central Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, the Taliban released 12 of 19 South Koreans held hostage, as part of a deal with Seoul that one Afghan minister warned would embolden the insurgents.

Read Full Story/AP

Helmsley…hmmm, Helmsley… Wasn’t she the one well known as being a *word that rhymes with witch*? File this one under: “confirmed.”

From CityNews.ca:

“Queen Of Mean” Leaves $12 Million To Her Dog

Wednesday August 29, 2007

She was known as the “Queen of Mean”, a woman who spent her wealth on herself but wasn’t known to share her largesse with her workers or family. But it appears she did have a soft spot for dogs. The billionaire left her pooch a $12 million trust fund.

When Leona Helmsley died earlier this month, there weren’t a lot of mourners. You may remember her name. Helmsley and her husband made a fortune in real estate and the hotel business. But employees who toiled for the couple claimed they were terribly abused by the pair. And Helmsely’s disregard of the rules led to her famous 1989 conviction on tax evasion charges. An employee testified overhearing the matron claim “only little people pay taxes.” She always denied it, but the statement followed her through an 18-month jail sentence and the remainder of her life.

So when the tough-as-nails businesswoman died on August 20th, no one knew quite what to expect in her will. But even veteran observers were stunned when its contents were revealed on Tuesday. Helmsely left her white Maltese named “Trouble” $12 million, to assure the animal would live in comfort for the rest of its life.

She also bequeathed millions for her brother, who was named a caregiver for the dog. And two of her grandchildren will get to keep $5 million each - but only if they visit their father’s gravesite once a year. Miss a turn and they lose everything. Two other grandchildren got absolutely nothing from the bizarre woman, for “reasons that are known to them,” she wrote.

Trouble’s fortunes won’t be over even after her life ends. “I direct that when my dog, Trouble, dies, her remains shall be buried next to my remains in the Helmsley mausoleum,” she ordered. And she left another $3 million to ensure that final resting place is well maintained, including money for a yearly wash or steam-cleaning.

But lest you think the Queen of Mean was all bad, there was some good in the woman. She bequeathed a $100,000 thank you gift to her chauffeur. And the couple’s considerable real estate holdings and belongings - said to be worth billions - will be sold and the profits given to a charitable trust in the infamous duo’s name.

Photo credit: Keith Bedford/Getty Images

The Big Easy (and southern Louisiana) , no longer easy after Katrina, faces increasing geologic peril. Scientists say that the area continues to sink, below pre-Katrina levels.

Read Full Story/NowPublic

TODAY’s Matt Lauer and Ann Curry gave Caitlin Upton a do-over on the now infamous question during an exclusive interview Tuesday. And this time the 18-year-old from South Carolina nailed it, according to a TODAYShow.com contributor

Here’s her new answer:

“Personally, my friends and I, we know exactly where the United States is on a map,” she said. “I don’t know anyone else who doesn’t. If the statistics are correct, I believe there should be more emphasis on geography in our education so people will learn how to read maps better.”

Source: MSNBC.com

View pageant video: Miss Teen USA South Carolina Vying For Blonde Moments Hall of Fame

Internet and television evangelist Bill Keller takes “Live Prayer” to competing station; his remarks on Islam prompt switch.

August 28, 2007

By ALEXANDER
TheScroogeReport.com 

Evangelist Bill Keller will move his late-night, live call-in prayer and faith program to another Tampa Bay area station after claims that his show was pulled off the air because of pressure from a Muslim group.

Officials from the Council on American Islamic Relations this month wrote the TV station’s owners asking for an investigation of the show it broadcasts, “Live Prayer With Bill Keller,” according to the Associated Press.

In a May 2 broadcast, Keller said Islam was a “1,400-year-old lie from the pits of hell” and called the prophet Muhammad a “murdering pedophile.” He also called the Qur’an a “book of fables and a book of lies.”

Council officials asked for equal airtime for Florida Muslims to counter Keller’s comments but never got the chance, according to Saturday’s AP story.

WTOG station manager Laura Caruso said ending Keller’s contract was a programming decision made by station executives and the televangelist.

In a statement released to ChristianNewsWire, Keller writes:

First and foremost, it is never my intent to offend anyone with my remarks. I have, however, over the past five years of airing “Live Prayer With Bill Keller” stood for the truth based on the worldview that the Bible is the infallible and inerrant word of God. And based on that, those who follow other gods are on a sure path to hell. Yet the Bible tells us that God wishes that none should perish and we are commanded to preach the truth of the gospel to all the world.

An example of my commitment to spreading the gospel is my online Liveprayer.com. Through LivePrayer.com, we have seen over 190,000 people make decisions to come to faith in Christ over the past eight years.” Liveprayer.com answers over 40,000 emails for prayer each day, having answered some 60 million in the past eight years. Nearly three million praise reports have been archived by people who took the time to write back about how God met their prayer requests.

I do not hold any ill will toward Muslims. I want them to know the truth and find true salvation. And the truth is that Islam is a false religion that follows a false god that will lead them to eternal condemnation. Since the very beginning of the Islamic faith some six hundred years after the death of Jesus Christ, Muslims have had a rich history of attacking anyone who disagrees with them. And this is just another one such historically redundant attack. This religious terrorism is conducted by an organization found to have deep rooted ties to terrorist groups, the Council on American Islamic Relations, or CAIR, to infringe on my First Amendment right of religious expression, and CBS Viacom is an accomplice.

CAIR, who is currently listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in a Dallas trial involving a terrorist fund raising operation, is viewed by much of the mainstream media as a Muslim version of the American Civil Liberties Union instead of the face of the radical Islamic movement that it has been proven to be since its inception here in the United States. CAIR believes that free speech ends when someone tells the truth about Islam. CAIR believes they have silenced my free speech, but to the contrary, Liveprayer is excited that our new morning program in the Tampa market that we have been working on for 6 months will debut on a competing network Monday, September 3rd. We are also close to finalizing plans to have the late night program on nationwide this October.

The media has called him the “Dr. Phil of prayer” and the next big thing in mass media religion. “Live Prayer with Bill Keller,” was the nation’s only “live” call-in faith and values based program airing on secular TV. The program and Keller’s web site deals with such issues as divorce, abortion, sexual abuse and drug addiction, and more from a conservative, biblical world view.

LivePrayer.com has been up on the web for eight years as an online faith outreach site. Keller says that the site has responded personally to more than 60 million online requests for prayer.

Spiritual fad-seeking character Lola Granola too much for media decision makers

The Washinton Post Writers Group

Washington Post, Other Newspapers Won’t Run ‘Opus’ Cartoon Mocking Radical Islam

A popular comic strip that poked fun at the Rev. Jerry Falwell without incident one week ago was deemed too controversial to run over the weekend because this time it took a humorous swipe at Muslim fundamentalists.

The Washington Post and several other newspapers around the country did not run Sunday’s installment of Berkeley Breathed’s “Opus,” in which the spiritual fad-seeking character Lola Granola appears in a headscarf and explains to her boyfriend, Steve, why she wants to become a radical Islamist.

The installment did not appear in the Post’s print version, but it ran on WashingtonPost.com and Salon.com. The same will hold true for the upcoming Sept. 2 strip, which is a continuation of the plotline.

Read Full Story FOXNews.com

Putting blonde moments to shame, Miss Teen South Carolina answers a question that leaves you going “what?” during a nationally televised beauty pageant.

The question was “Why can’t 1/5th of Americans locate America on a map?” — As TMZ.com reports, Lauren Caitlin Upton gave an answer that couldn’t have made less sense if she were speaking in ancient Selonian … in fact, maybe she was!

Increasing mortgage and loan problems will not effect mansions in heaven

Awakenings by Alexander

Monday, August 27

I heard Pastor Chuck Smith, of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, say on the radio today that when he dies, reports of his death will actually be a misnomer.

“They will say, ‘Pastor Chuck Smith died today’, but actually that is wrong. The more accurate reporting will be, ‘Pastor Chuck Smith moved’,” Smith said, during his morning message on Christian radio.

What Smith was referring to was that for those that have accepted the Lord, their soul, their conscious self, will have a new dwelling place after physical death. They will have a mansion in heaven.

I was thinking about the recent housing crisis, and yes, I call it a crisis despite whatever financial reports you read these days. I see all the foreclosures, the debt problems, and people moving out of homes they can’t afford anymore, and I believe it either is a crisis or will become one. I think about that and realize that for those that know their mansion awaits them in heaven, coping with housing in today’s world is no big whoop.

Sure, it stings. It hurts to have to struggle to pay mortgages and loans, but if you as a Christian take a deep breath, know that you have a relationship with Him and that He will be providing you a dwelling place…a most magnificent dwelling place…it’s easier to cope.

However, it does take a proper outlook to put our earthly dwellings, which in this case means our bodies, in proper perspective, but it can be done. There are even some who look forward to “moving day”. Can you imagine that!?

Many will continue to struggle with housing…the physical building kind and the existing mortgage crisis. Who knows how long the crunch will go on?

Meanwhile, with our focus on all things eternal, we can say “Crisis? What crisis?”

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. - Matthew 6:20

Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. - II Corinthians 5:1

In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. - John 14:2