Monday, September 15, 2008

Entertainment and Pentecostalism

I think a core attribute of Pentecostalism is participatory entertainment. The service is always emotional, and people always seek particular emotional states during the service. Take yourself out of the religious zone for a moment. Why do you watch some forms of entertainment on television? Why do you watch horror? You get an emotional state plus sometimes a good story. Why do you watch America’s Funniest Home Videos or Comedy Central? Again, it puts us in an emotional state usually of levity and laughter.

Pentecostalism perverts religion and doses it with entertainment. The most common forms of emotional induced entertainment within Pentecostalism are jubilant excitement, terror, fear, horror, sadness and guilt. Remember that when the leaders appear as hypocrites in watching stuff that the congregants are forbidden to watch, the core is still preserved. They shock their audience into thinking that certain movies create demons coming out of their televisions. They shock their audiences into thinking that people with Tourrette’s are speaking forth in demon languages. They induce extreme guilt when they say that smoking a cigarette will send you to the Lake of Fire and Brimstone – they conjure up the most shocking and horrifying image and bring forth the common guilt in that one has “transgressed the laws of God.”

Think of some of the entertainers in music and on MTV like Maryly Manson, Ozzy Ozbourne, and such. They get their money and increase their audience through shock value. It does not matter if they believe what they are doing or not. Think of nasty political fights on TV where talking heads like Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Greta Van Susteren, Michael Moore, Larry King, Oprah, and others say things for shock value to increase the audience. They are all part of the same scam that Pentecostalism uses: scare them, shock them, induce fear and horror at the enemy, induce sadness and guilt and you have tons of entertainment cash coming into your bank account.

There is a large audience out there begging messiahs and leaders to manipulate their motions. Sadly, sometimes we are all suckers. Perhaps our involvement in Pentecostalism will inoculate us from a lot of this mess. Pentecostalism does indeed consist - in large part - of manipulative entertainment.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm a pentecostal Christian and there is not one hint of truth in this post about what we do or believe.

Freddy Martini said...

What in particular is bothering you?

In Honesty Lies Truth said...

I've always heard that smoking will not send you to hell...it'll just make you smell like you've already been there.
God will let you know when it's time to let go of those things. What you do and how you act is and will always be between you and God. It's when people start telling you you have to do this and you shouldn't do that, that there is a problem. Have a great day!

Freddy Martini said...

To all,

When posting here, please try to be logically coherent.

Lutherius

Anonymous said...

Lutherius, you are correct. When working as a university lecturer in the field of theatre studies, I had a student Jane, who was a great kid actually, but in a bad way. She had tried to commit suicide three times and had been diagnosed with a mental illness. She described to me an experience at "Spring Harvest" very similar to what you describe. I said, "Jane...that's not christianity, that is theatre..Come on. You know the power of suggestion, of suspended belief. What you describe is not christianity at all." If I had been able to direct her to this web-site, I would have let her sit and read your words. It would have helped her alot. As it is, a fine young person is out there in the world, broken, scared and unwell.
You do good Lutherius. thanks.

Unknown said...

Your remarks are right on! I'm an ex-pentecostal too and they are a very nefarious group. I'll be following your blog. Can't wait to see more!

Anonymous said...

As a recovering AOG member I say that you are right on. It pains me to see pentacostals treat me the way that I use to think of those outside the AOG church. I am now a Calvinist. Most, not all pentacostals are misguided. I pray God opens their eyes to the truth.

Anonymous said...

They are just immature.

Anonymous said...

Everything which exists in this physical realm is finite and must therefore preserve its consistency. Hence, Organisations, organisms, people and other aninals, by any means necessary, have to provide for their existence. One way to sustain oneself is to increasingly take control of ressources. Ressources can be internal or external. Using that logic, it is a sound course of action, that Churches by any means necessary, take control of their constituants.
On another note, I am going through a divorce. Since I left the house, my ex-wife has been bringing the my kids regularly to the Pentecostals. My 15 year old daughter came to visit me with 2 bibles in her handbag. And a month ago, my 9 year old was telling me about what they do in HER religion. Well, the term Parental Alienation Disorder or Syndrome is almost going mainstream. I suggest that what is going on in some of these religions is Religious Alienation Disorder.
Religion is a system... Like any living being, it has to try to sustain its own existence.
Beware people, everything is just a subset of ideas.

Rachel said...

One of my earliest observations after joining the UPC was that there are distinct stages to the show. You have to "ramp" up the crowd so to speak before you let the "city buster" fall. What I mean by that is the crowd has to be properly brought to a frenzy before they preach but just after that "city buster" of a song that everyone dances to.

I mean that this song has to be a real crowd pleaser. It has to "clear the pews" so to speak. And when it hits, everyone is a star! I mean EVERYONE has a chance to dance and let it all shake out. For just a moment all eyes are on you. If you happen to be the first one to get dancing, all the better but be careful! You have to cut lose at the correct time: too early and everyone knows you are faking. Too late and you get tracked in the mad rush to get into the front. Yeah I did this for over 20 years, do not tell me there is something wrong with this, becuase there is.

Anonymous said...

This is disturbing. There is not one shred of truth within this post. Who in their right mind would claim that a person with a disorder such as Tourrette's is "speaking forth in demon[ic] languages?" Guilt, horror, and fear are not preached in a true Pentecostal church. The Bible itself says that God does not give us a spirit of fear. Why, then, would fear be used as a key point within a Pentecostal service? One has only to study the Bible out for himself to see the truth. On the topic of "entertainment" within the service, the Bible says in First Corinthians 12 that one of the gifts of the Spirit is the discerning of spirits. Armed with this knowledge, one should be able to see through a "sham service." Listening to the will of God about when to move in a service is what is important, not the carnal schedule.