Church Wounds? Hurt in Church?

Do we need to call hundreds of ambulances for the many people around the world who are suffering from church wounds? I have experienced a church wound, and I have to admit that the pain from these wounds are initially very hard to bear. Isn’t it amazing that some of the most vindictive people that you can find anywhere are in the church? One must understand that church for some of us is all that we have, and to experience rejection, hurt, and dismay in one’s only place of safety is devastating to many people. I would submit that many of the mean spirited posts by Christians on the Internet, are from those who have festering church wounds. Many of the vindictive so called Christian Bloggers, Heresy Hunters, and Pulpit Pimp Monitors who post filth, rumours, and innuendos are simply those who have not healed from their church wounds. Is it right to hurt others because you are hurting?
Christians should be strong and vigilant to the attacks of the enemy, yet one would be remiss to not admit that many on the Christian battlefield are injured by friendly fire. Our enemy’s job is made so much easier many times by Christians, who are busy lusting after Positions, Power and Stature in the church to such a degree, that they hurt many others in the process. I am asking for responses from those of you who have suffered a devastating church wound that lead you to seek God for the healing of your church wound. Church wounds, like many other wounds heal over time if treated properly. The only way to treat these wounds properly is to seek God for healing and deliverance from the wound. Please leave your comments to help others who are currently going through the same thing, and to help the Body of Christ in our attempt to limit our losses due to friendly fire!

Juanita Bynum Payes Her Property Taxes!

Prophetess Juanita Bynum has paid her taxes and will not have her property sold, much to the chagrin of all of the online heresy hunters and pulpit pimp watchers! This lady has been attacked so harshly by so many who were supposed to be of the church. Maybe she did get a little off base, but the level of the attacks against her were uncalled for and many of them were very mean spirited. Wouldn’t it be amazing if she comes out of this situation with even more influence and popularity? Juanita Haters please go mind your own business and your own problems please!

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported the following:

Prophetess Juanita Bynum said Friday she has paid the delinquent property tax on her $4.5 million compound in Waycross, where officials had threatened to auction the property.Bynum said at a press conference that the debt was an oversight.

Nevertheless, Ware County tax officials say they are depositing Bynum’s check for more than $33,000 but they don’t intend to take her property off the market until they are sure the payment is good. An additional $300 is still owed on the property.

“I’m not taking it out of tax sale until the check clears the bank,” said Ware County tax commissioner Steve Barnard. “It takes about a week.”

Barnard said Bynum’s representatives have agreed to pay the $300 shortfall.

Bynum is seeking a tax exemption on the property and hopes to recoup the tax payment in the future, she said.

The 30-acre compound with a lake view in South Georgia was purchased to house the headquarters of Juanita Bynum Ministries and the Mt. Olive Country Spa for women seeking pampering, prayer and spiritual guidance.

Bynum said her lawyers have applied for a tax exemption on the property, but the deadline for the property taxes came before the paperwork was complete. The pastor said she had put $5,000 down on the tax bill earlier but was advised by her attorneys not to pay the full bill until the exemption came through.

Earlier this week, the property was scheduled for auction for non-payment of taxes. Barnard filed a lien against the compound on June 7 because $32,007.56 in 2006 property taxes had not been paid. According to the lien, a $3,200 penalty and $2,240 in interest also is owed.

Bynum provided a copy of her receipt to reporters that showed $38,904.15 had been paid on the account.

“The word of God tells me my integrity shall preserve my inheritance,” Bynum said. “I am not going to lose anything.”

Read the Entire Article at The Atlanta Journal Constitution

Is the Term Pulpit Pimp Racist?

Is the Term Pulpit Pimp Racist? I am growing concerned that many of those who are being called pulpit pimps by Internet Heresy Hunters, and their comrades are disproportionally those of minority status. The term pimp brings back those images of the seventies, where the big brim hats and stack heels were the order of the day. Why wouldn’t the preachers that these heresy hunters target be called, charlatans, greedy, hucksters, reprobate, infidels, or any of 100 other terms that they could be called?-(Note: I think you should be praying for these individuals instead of calling them names)-I have read many of these individuals’ posts which are more fiction than fact, and most of these individuals websites mirror the local gossip columns that many of the world frequent. How many times has one ever heard Billy Graham, Charles Stanley, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, or David Jeremiah being called a pulpit pimp, yet is every Black Preacher that wears a nice suit and speaks with confidence is a pulpit pimp? This is racist at the core!
Is it alright to call any African American Preacher that attains a measure of success a pulpit pimp? Is this rational? Is this racist? Is calling a black preacher a pimp signifying to others that these individuals specialize in the selling of women’s bodies? Is this how mainstream America sees most black men as pimps and our women as____? Are we not debunking these stereotypes? How can we use these terms and be proud of them? Many of these sites are operated by African Americans who seem to abhor anything that resembles black success. Are they experiencing Self Hatred? I am cognizant that there are many African American Preachers who are exhibiting less than stellar behavior across our land, yet I don’t think the term pulpit pimp would apply to these individuals. Pimp is a vile term to call a preacher by, maybe those who operate these websites that calls primarily black preachers “Pulpit Pimps”, will examine themselves and their love for their own race!

Respectfully Submitted,

Pastor Stephen F. Smith

Sure House Church, Inc.

Article on Online Heresy Hunters, Pulpit Pimp Hunters, and Preacher Bashers!

I read an awesome article in Ministry Today Magazine by Pastor Dave Cannistraci! This article is on the many Online Heresy Hunters,Pulpit Pimp Hunters, and Preacher Bashers Online! He has written a work that should be shared by many in The Body. It is a splendid read and a must have for every major Christian Church and every major Christain Media Ministry in the world! It helped me to understand why I am being attacked by a few strange acting individuals, one of whom is an alleged small time kid’s tennis instructor in Greece who masquerades as a theologian, who doesn’t even know me. It’s one thing to fight for a cause, but it’s another to fight just because. I don’t refute all of their stances on the many excesses and problems in The Body of Christ, but I refute the spirit in which they take most of their stances! Many of these online bashers are sowing disunity in the Body! What do you think? Well here’s a few excerpts from the article:

The War on Error

By David Cannistraci

Are online heresy hunters bringing needed correction in the church or sowing disunity?

Infidels beware: A new generation of crusaders is on the march, ignoring history’s warnings about the damage unrestrained spiritual zeal creates. Their mission? To protect us all from religious fraud and dangerous doctrines by investigating and exposing those who push past the accepted boundaries of conservative evangelicalism. They have pledged themselves to defend truth and liberate the kingdom of God from the threat of apostasy. From discernment ministries to watchdog groups to bloggers to anonymous Web site commenters, the Internet has created a breeding ground for unbridled criticism. Though truth and correction are essential to the health of the church, this new wave of heresy hunters may be taking things too far. Their targets are not the likes of David Koresh or Jim Jones—we would thank them for that. Instead, they’re aiming at many of today’s most popular charismatic Bible teachers, including Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen and T.D. Jakes.

These zealous soldiers of orthodoxy aren’t afraid to fight dirty, either. Armed with ample evidence to prove their case, they quote, deride and scoff at any ministry they “discern” as dangerous. In this biblical blitzkrieg, no question is too trivial, no accusation too personal and no ridicule too cruel.

Ministry Today Article-Must Subscribe to View Entire Article

Dave Cannistraci Website

My Letter to Those Who Attack Preachers on the Web! Prayer For Pulpit Pimp Hunters!

My Letter to People Who Consistently Attack Preachers Online:

To the Church Gossipers, Church Bashers, Church Paparazzi, Pulpit Pimp/Heresy Hunters-(Church Haters Called by More Politically Correct Names)-Upset Over My List of Former Speaking Engagements-Yes it was indeed an honor to be chosen to preach in those time periods by the one of the greatest preachers of our time, Bishop Gilbert E. Patterson. My website’s content is determined by me and I will definitely keep those dates on there.

Your collection of haters of the church here are funny sometimes, but your intense jealousy of many individuals who are making a mark for Christ is starting to become apparent. Let’s see you talk negatively about Creflo Dollar and his ministry hasn’t taken a hit. Neither has The Church of God in Christ, Bishop Ellis, PAW, Medina Pullings, Paula White, Bishop Eddie Long, Bishop T. D. Jakes, Bishop Paul Morton, Pastor Jamal Bryant, Pastor Michael Freeman, Pastor John Jenkins, Bishop Noel Jones, Prophetess Juanita Bynum, Kenneth Copeland, Jesse Duplantis, and so many others that it would take nearly a year to name! Your “You might be sitting under a pimp”, barrage last week was low class, and you audience on the web is definitely diminishing! I will never ever post on here again; however I will respond to your types from my blog.

You are an accuser of the brethren, and not a crusader for truth. Your blog is not correcting anyone, and it only seeks to discredit men of God that are committed to the kingdom! It is classless to post the pictures of preachers at this website which has denigrated to pablum of the lowest order. The Little Stevie Wonder comments (A Name that I am called by a malicious church blogger who hasn’t dealt with a festering church wound that he has) don’t offend me because my grandfather called me that for years. Your wound from your prior church is evidently festering at a greater pace. (Many of these Christian Attack Site Owners are Simply People Who Didn’t Get Their Way in an Organized Church)

Did they not let you preach, or did the pastor forget to call your name before you started bashing other preachers, and the Body of Christ as a whole with reckless abandon? God does judge this kind of behavior! Since you are going to edit this on this attack blog, this post will appear in it’s entirety on my blog! Mr. Pulpit Pimp Hunter I will be praying a much needed prayer for you! Check out the moat in your own eyes before you check out the specks in the eyes of every large ministry in the United States!

Respectfully Submitted,
Pastor Stephen F. Smith

Winning the Argument, but Losing the Soul!

I have recently run into a group of Apologetics/Heresy hunters online. I felt that many of the larger African American ministries were targeted a little too frequently. I then submitted a post that made these individuals very upset. I suggested that maybe they should consider the potential harm to all of the individuals that follow the men that their websites target. I have been known in the past as a preacher that preaches a hard text. Yet as I grow older and wiser, I have realized that it is not in the best interest of the Body of Christ for us to send every preacher and believer that we don’t agree with to hell.

There will always be differences in doctrine in our churches. Some say that people from other churches will go to hell for not going to church on the right day, for being baptized the wrong way, or for the length of one’s hemline. One of Bishop G. E. Patterson’s most popular sermons ever was, “Salvation is an Inside Job”. In this message he tackled the various arguments over doctrine that are waged in the Body of Christ. Saints, I am also proclaiming that Salvation is an Inside Job. The late Charles Spurgeon once said that, Morality can keep one out of prison, but only the blood of Jesus can keep one out of hell. Salvation is a gift from God that doesn’t come from a list of external dos and don’ts.

One has to learn to know God for himself. I have been challenged to answer a list of questions by one of these “online barometers of ministry effectiveness”. I have also been asked why I support men like the Bishop Noel Jones, who is a oneness preacher or as they were called back in the day a “Jesus Only” preacher. I am not his best friend, yet I have enjoyed his preaching throughout the years. I don’t have to defend Bishop Noel Jones, who is one of America’s greater pulpiteers. I have heard him on many occasions and not once has he tried to assert his beliefs on a Trinitarian audience. I am one that definitely espouses Trinitarian beliefs. However; websites like Pulpit Pimps don’t have a heaven or a hell to put Bishop Jones in.

I did not feel like defending my photo with Bishop Jones would be a productive use of my time. I will always remember a comment from a muslim minster in my days of being in the world. This particular muslim minister admonished his followers to witness to Christians from the Bible, because most Christians can’t defend their faith.I resolved from that day forward to be an individual that was able to defend his faith. My decision to not engage in an online battle over doctrinal issues was not because of my inability to defend my faith.

Who wins the battle when Christians openly battle over doctrine? What benchmarks are achieved by doing this? Christians should stomp out heresy in their midst; however some of us need to reexamine the manner in which we attempt to do this. If we win the debate, what’s the prize that we will get? I submit to you the prize that we receive from our battles over doctrine, end up being pyrrhic victories, which are victories that are achieved at too great a cost. Are we winning the argument, but losing the souls? Will anyone stick around to view our battles over doctrinal issues? Do we grasp that there are potential souls of unbelievers that are ready to be won to the kingdom?

Will these souls be won by Christians who are fighting more that those in the mean streets that they came from? I considered all of these factors before I engaged this group any further. Was this my chance to show how well read I am, or was this a chance to show the sheer compassion and the boundless love that God must have in just forgiving me of my shortcomings? We serve a compassionate God who has mercies that are new every morning. Let’s not win all of the Christian arguments at the price of losing souls! Are some of us adopting the attitudes of the scribes and pharisees? Should we attempt to rid the kingdom of those who preach heresy? Yes we should, yet not at the cost of never promoting a positive message of the love of God to unbelievers!

How can we expect God to forgive our “the sin”, and not expect God to forgive the sins of others? The patriarchs of old attacked sin with a reckless abandon, but they didn’t sit back like the scribes and pharisees and just pass judgement on others. One of the surprises in heaven will be that people that some of us didn’t think would make it will make it. Yes, there will also be many individuals that we thought had heaven made, who will receive eternal damnation. A televangelist in heaven, yes heresy hunters it is very possible despite what you write about them. A heresy hunter in hell, that is also possible if one submits to the spirit of pride and feels like he or she is God’s only moral compass for the world.

There’s a Heaven to gain and a hell to shun. Let’s get ourselves right, and not be so caught up winning arguments and in the process losing souls! Contending for the faith does not mean bashing others all day long and never delivering that same faith to others!

Matthew Chapter 23 verse 23– Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. 28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.St. Matthew 6:14-15-14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

St. Matthew 18:21-35 21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. 23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. 24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. 28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. 29 And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. 32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: 33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? 34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. 35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

Do Skeptics or Critics Produce Revival?

In the whole of the scriptures, has there ever been a skeptic, critic, or a heresy hunter that produced any lasting revival? Revivals seldom come from the writings or musings of the critic. There are many believers in the Body of Christ that don’t agree with every wave that comes through the Body of Christ. Yet, is it a good use of energy and is it productive for the Kingdom’s sake to just sit back and pass judgement on the ministries of others? There have been doctrinal differences throughout the annals of the church, and these differences will exist to the return of Jesus Christ. Jesus once said in St. Luke 11:17-But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth. The policy of passing judgment on other ministries publicly, without spending an adequate amount of time helping to win souls for Christ is counterproductive for the kingdom. God used men of action throughout the whole of the scriptures, for a man or woman to be a person of faith at all, would require that particular man or woman to be a person of action. Revivals hardly ever come from the halls of the skeptic, Hebrews 11 is filled with the stories of valiant men and women who did not spend a preponderance of their time criticizing others in the ministry, but there were men and women who were busy building the kingdom. Can a skeptic produce a revival? Let’s call out things that need to be called out, but let’s spend the majority of our time building the kingdom!