Friday, July 06, 2007

Truth in advertising



LuisPalauza is coming to the Big O next weekend with the Luis Palau Heartland Festival.

Oh, Lawd, there's gonna be bands and motorcycle daredevils and skater dudes and BMXers. There's gonna be a salute to the troops and a sports luncheon extravaganza and a to-do for the ladies of the Heartland.

According to the LuisPalauza festival website, Stephen Baldwin is gonna be at the Heartland Festival to spread his Gnarly Gospel as the BMXers and skater dudes and the Riders for Christ do their thing.

Gnarly. Dude.

Funny thing is, the Archdiocese of Omaha is on board with this orgasm of bread and circuses baiting and switching 'em all into the Kingdom of God. (As if.) And the LuisPalauza people are advertising Stephen Baldwin and his Livin It tour as being a major attraction -- as if an encounter with the God of the Universe is too underwhelming to stand on its own.

So, how is the archdiocese going to deal with getting in bed with. . . .

I'm going to be a bit of a jerk to make a point. Now you're doing that dance that most people do. And I was at the same place that you are. "I'm a good guy." And even the Roman Catholic Church, nowhere in the bible does it say you can pray to Mary. Prayer is a form of worship and the Lord said that you will have no other God before me. Now look at all of the problems you're seeing in the Roman Catholic Church. Now, am I saying that's God's wrath? That's not for me to decide or even make a statement about. I can't judge that. I'm just little schmuck, Stephen Baldwin. God says that there is only one way and I didn't believe that, myself, until I tried it and his spirit came into my life and into my heart, and confirmed that the Jesus Christ truth was real.

UMM HMMMM. Once again, I ask: When I kick the bucket, will there be any Catholics left to bury my Papist cadaver?

At any rate, there's nothing I really can say about the upcoming spectacle that Flannery O'Connor hasn't said much better. Like this:

What people don't realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross. It is much harder to believe than not to believe. If you feel you can't believe, you must at least do this: keep an open mind. Keep it open toward faith, keep wanting it, keep asking for it, and leave the rest to God.
Steve Taylor -- all but tarred and feathered by fellow evangelicals during his days as a Christian recording artist -- took O'Connor's reflection and turned it into a classic song.

Which you can watch above, courtesy of YouTube.

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