Nov 26 2007
Famous Evangelists and Their Oddities
Chicago Tribune published a list of “10 Things You Might Not Know About Famous Evangelists.”
Some of the ‘things’ are oddities, some of them are plain crazy and corrupted behavior, and some are well known, such as Tammy Faye’s tattooed-on eyebrows and lips (at least I could tell…).
Here are the three that paint a picture of no-common-sense evangelist power-mongery:
1. Zion, a city north of Chicago founded by Scottish evangelist John Alexander Dowie in 1902, at various times banned circuses, theaters, alcohol, gambling, tobacco, pork, politicians, doctors, drugstores, jazz, oysters, chop suey, tan-colored shoes, flirting, dancing, swearing, spitting and whistling on Sunday.
Ouch, imagine not owning a pair of tan-colored shoes. And what was this dude’s problem with doctors and drugstores?
5. Georgia’s Rev. Creflo Dollar, whose ownership of a Rolls-Royce harks back to the quintessential “prosperity preacher” of the ’70s, Frederick Eikerenkoetter, better-known as Rev. Ike. The now-retired Ike owned a fleet of mink-appointed Rolls-Royces and said,”The best thing you can do for the poor is not to be one of them.”
Yeah, that’s one way of putting it….
8. Oral Roberts’ most famous fundraising effort came in 1987, when he said God would “take me home” if he didn’t raise $8 million for medical scholarships. Less well-known was another life-threatening experience he revealed the same year. Roberts said Satan had entered his bedroom and tried to strangle him, only to be chased away by Roberts’ wife, Evelyn.
I bet he was a feminist too.
6 responses so far
My all-time favorite silly law: In Alabama, it is unlawful to sell dildos while wearing bowling shoes. http://sheldman.blogspot.com/2005/02/silly-laws.html
Thanks Ben, your link made for some fun reading. Well, I think it’s silly to ban the selling of sex toys period, no matter what shoes one would wear. And it’s definitely silly when the law is written like this:
It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly distribute, possess with intent to distribute, or offer or agree to distribute any obscene material or any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs for any thing of pecuniary value (Acts 1989, No. 89-402, p. 791, §4; Act 98-467, p. 893, §6.)
God, I love it when you talk dirty. “pecuniary value?” Whoo! It’s gettin’ hot in here…
Thanks Ben. Pecuniary is my new favorite word. Only turns on men who can read, so it’s somewhat of a selection method.
”The best thing you can do for the poor is not to be one of them.”
:/
You should be able to wear anything you want when selling Dildo’s IMO..lol