After last week's hate mail, it was a pleasant surprise to receive a letter thanking me for exposing the world's most shamelessly manipulative piece of born-again evangelism.
Chris wrote:
I'm glad to see that I'm not alone in how I feel about that trash. I too participated in a performance of this affront to decency and compassion.
I'd have to agree with him when he writes:
It does need to be stopped. I wish there was something to do about it.
I guess we can all do our bit simply by exposing these things if and when they come up. There are times to be quiet and let sleeping dogs lie, but Heaven's Gates, Hell's Flames is no sleeping dog. It's a blatantly abusive propaganda tool, and I see from the website that it is still alive and well, including in the UK.
But how would the work of God get done if we aren't sneaky and manipulative? It would be funny if it weren't so tragic. I often have to remind myself that there are different parts of "the body" that I cannot explain, but I guess I don't have to.
Posted by: Kevin | Tuesday, 25 April 2006 at 04:19 PM
I am all the way in South Africa. And I remember going to one of those productions. My atheist friend took me! And she thought it was cheesy. But i thought, i need to re commit my life. Not because of the theatrics, but because I was predisposed to the message.
For someone who believes in hell, it can be quite scary. Again, not the production, but the way you imagine yourself losing people to hell. It messed with my mind.
I only got up to re-commit my life because I felt that their message was correct. I hesitated at first, but what pushed me was the 'HolySpirit' saying so u know its real.
Its a cheesy stupid production, poorly conceptualised and not even all that well acted. The lighting was quite spectacular though, for our small little town it was like eyes-wide ga-ga.
BOY DID IT CAUSE A REVIVAL!!!! the thing is though, those numbers are never sustained.
HEAVENS Gates can come to your city and scare people, but pretty soon, life gets back to normal.
Posted by: South African | Thursday, 11 May 2006 at 01:50 PM
I am ashamed to think that I was ever a part of that, but uh, I was {head down} more than once {head bowed even lower}. Ugh.
Posted by: Owen | Friday, 02 June 2006 at 04:28 PM
"But how would the work of God get done if we aren't sneaky and manipulative?"
The TRUTH, Kevin THE TRUTH! It is SATAN who is spreading his message trough manipulation! The servants of TRUE God do NOT NEED to manipulate, because people will see the wisdom in their words - the Spirit in them.
And that play, I thought it was blasphemy of highest rank when I saw it. I refuse to believe that all-loving God would torture 99,9% of mankind 24/eternity! Maybe you would also like to read why I don't believe into an unscriptural blasphemy called "the hell". The truth is found f.ex. from this website: www.bibletruths.com
And back to that play:
Are we still in the middle ages, where church tries to make people believe by scaring the hell out of them? If you are touched by the play, starting to believe in the world that the play is showing, you will probably go and commit yourself to this Jesus they teach.
And don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Jesus. It's just ABSOLUTELY WRONG to commit your life to Jesus only because you are afraid to go to hell!
Which should be the reason for turning to Jesus: faith or fear?
Posted by: Finn, who has seen the play | Wednesday, 01 November 2006 at 02:58 PM
GOD BLESS BELOVED IT GOOD TO HEAR SOME LIKE MINDED PEOPLE WHO SEE THE TRUTH ABOUT HELL BRO RAY IS TRULY HEARING FROM THE LORD ON THIS LIE . ITS HEARD TALKING TO PEOPLE ABOUT THIS LIE ITS DRIVING ME MORE TO STUDY TO TELL POEPLE HOW MUCH GOD LOVES THEM .NOT BURN THEM I TO WAS THINKING LIKE THAT BUT GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT SET ME FREE . NOW I FEEL LIKE GOD IS PREPARING ME .
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