What is a Praise-athon? ...

What is a Praise-athon? ... What is it patterned after? ... Is it's purpose to praise Christ or raise money? ... If it's the latter then shouldn't it be called a Raise-athon? ... All last week TBN had a fund-raiser called a Praise-athon which i found equally disturbing and embarrasing ... A whole bunch of loud raucous "plant a seed" preachers (male and female) operating out of "perspiration" instead of "inspiration" (my opinion) to fire up the emotionalism of the poor folk prone to such messaging towards playing in affect a "spiritual lotto" ... Plant and get! ... Plant and get! ... i know first hand how hard it is to witness to the unsaved once they've seen such theatrics ... i can totally understand why Christ did what He did towards the commerce in the Temple in His day ... It was disgusting to Him then, and it has to be disgusting to Him now ... His tearing down of false walls and their builders can't come soon enough ... Or do you think i'm being overly critical?

The issue of Praise-A-Thon and TBN, hopefully without being too redundant. Let me plead, and make another case for the great need of Long Term Care Ministry. There are many lonely souls confined to so many Care Facilities around the world, and sadly more often than not their only spiritual diet comes from TV broadcasting such as TBN. Why?If more Christians would heed the call to Minister in these locations, literally to be sent as Missionaries possibly the gravity of the situation would not be as acute. There are some mainline denominations still trying, The Mormons are there, but so few Evangelicals. You many not be called to necessarily “preach” or “teach”, but surely we could take a little time and visit room to room. We must not minimize the effectiveness of a warm embrace, a smile, a simple word that says Christ has not forgotten about you. And indeed He sent me to tell you!!!Let us not forget the many pioneers that have blazed the trail for us, and now need us.Let's not let TBN take the place of Christians practicing Pure Religion.In Christ,tony

Man brother Greg, i was hoping you'd post on this ... :-) You know a while back when you pounced on me about TBN? ... Well i was mistaken about the Christian TV station i watched so much ... i thought it was TBN but it's another station called WBTH (Family Net) ... i was gonna go back and post it then but figured let sleeping dogs lie, it just didn't seem that important ... But praise be to God that if one waits long enough a new opportunity arises ...You wrote;"I really think that even giving that TV station the time of day is sad. I pray nobody from this site spends any time on there to get words from God". This is my very point exactly ... A whole lot of folk give TBN (and the like) more than just the time of day ... They totally believe in it ... :-( i know you see no redeeming value whatsoever about TBN but every once in a while in my channel surfing i'll come across something that God means for good and i hear it, like that unmentionable book, by that unmentionable preacher that caused you such alarm ... You may have shot it down without ever knowing what was in it, or what it was about, but our Lord blessed me real good out of it, and truth be told the book had not even one mention about health or prosperity ... :-) ... But then again that apparently was for me and not you as our Lord has you on your path of service, and me on mine, with what being of import that we're both walking with the same Holy Spirit, and end up at the same destination, recieving a "well done My good and faithful servant" ...You finished;"There are many better and more true sources to get our manna from" ...i, and you most certainly should, praise God that we've got the better resources of manna and don't even have to be concerned with the mostly trash can pickings of a TBN, but our Lord has me in an invironment where so many of the saints (like the just can't seem to "get it" group Jeremiah had to minister to) faithfully adhere to TBN (and the like) hook, line and sinker, with seemingly no percievable discerment at all, so it serves me well to know (first hand) whats going on in the enemy's camp (as excuciating as it can sometimes be), and just what spiritual confusion the enemy is pouring out ... There's a whole multitude of totally misled sheep that Christ has not forgotten about who are spiritually sick because they can't determine for themselves what, and what not to eat, and are quick to butt anyone God sends their way in attempts of rescue ... You should praise God that He hasn't called you to minister to the adamantly wrong ... :-? ... It's not been an enjoyable time for me for the most part, but my compassion keeps going out in much prayer that God would topple the very sources of such confusion soon, and i ask that you, and all saints that know better pray with me on their behalf, for God has shown me that no matter how hard we may attempt to seperate these lost sheep from ourselves we can't, and tho we might concider ourselves well if they're sick then that sickness affects us ALL ... The price of many members in one Body ...

Its this really big snake that kills its victims by suffocation. This occurs when it wraps its body around its victim and contracts its muscles, causing death...sorry thats a python I'm talking about. :-? Can't help you Rahman.On a more serious note, Paul did encourage the Corinthian church to have their gift ready, and encouraged them to give for their brethren. The principle I suppose is there, but everyone knows what the runners of TBN do it for. ;-)