Gloria Copeland claims ability to control the weather
The topic for this seed is:
What causes so many to believe such nonsense?
Gloria Copeland is the wife of televangelist Kenneth Copeland. Kenneth Copeland claims to have a personal fortune of over $1 billion (although reports suggest he is merely worth a paltry $750 million).
These people make their fortune from their followers who donate money to 'the cause' (the more you give the more God gives back) and buy the products they sell. While one cannot fault the Copelands for running a successful business, they can be faulted for being slimy con-artists.
The topical question however is how can so many can be so gullible when the Copelands are clearly exploiting their followers while making ridiculous claims such as being able to control the weather by channeling the power of God.
This is so over the top. It is staggering to consider that people buy this stuff.
As I commented in another article a few minutes ago - prosperity gospels aren't a new idea. The big churches are Europe were built on the same idea, the more you give the more pull you have with God. I don't understand how people fall for it either. I never found anywhere in the Bible where it says I have to bribe my way into Heaven.
Years ago this would've surprised me-- but not now! (Because I've seen so much of this sort of sheer stupidity that it seems commonplace).
It makes me think of one of my favourite quotes:
I know of two things that are infinite-- the Universe and human stupidity. And I not entire sure about the former.
-Albert Einstein
It is a sad commentary.
I don't understand it, either. And it's not just lonely, old widows who fall for this bullshit
Certainly not given Kenneth Copeland is the richest televangelist in the USA.
The idea of personally controlling the weather is a little Zen like. Perhaps this woman read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance or Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah - misinterpreted them and wrapped it up in a faux Christian package.
Let that cow prove what she claims she can do.
You're being unfair to cows. Cows serve a purpose
Obviously she cannot do much. She cannot even control the hot air her old man is constantly spewing! Besides, the cows are innocent!
Cows may come and cows may go, but the bull pedalled by evangelists goes on forever!
I may have pedalled my bicycle, but I never peddled any bull.
Sorry Lenny, when I saw your comment I just couldn't resist. LOL. It made me think of Dave Broadfoot, who was a Canadian comedian who had an act as the Senator from Kicking Horse Pass. When the citizens of Kicking Horse Pass asked him for government money to dam the river so they could have a reservoir, he said: "We may give concessions, but we don't give a dam."
Lol, thanks for the correction, Buzz, I don't screw up homonyms very often. All joking aside, Canada DOES seem to give a damn about her citizens from what I've been able to glean.
IIRC, the first one was very popular in the 60s-- hippies thought they were following Buddhist teachings! (Who knows...,maybe some some were...?)
Illusions is less widely known-- but its been one of my favourite books! (A very simple exposition of some very advanced metaphysical principles that date back to the spiritual masters of ancient times!)
But the people who fall for the nonsense mentioned here aren't spiritually evolved...they are just gullible idiots!!!
What do you mean by 'spiritually evolved,' Krish? Just wondering...
It's a great book. I still have a copy of both somewhere.
In many ways they have to be. I grew up watching Jimmy Swaggart with Great Grandma and quickly learned Televangelism is a con-job.
Wow. Ok...
Some people are just desperate to believe. I think fear drives them.
It's rather amazing how many people honestly believe in magic - i think she'd be classified as a "witch" or "sorceress" if she has these "supernatural" powers, correct ? (isn't there something mentioned in the bible about "witches" or "witchcraft" ?)
(this is not meant to offend anyone practicing Wicca - i know that term is used in that religion as someone who practices that particular religion)
OK, I'll cuss her for my garden being flooded and water in my basement
Perhaps the money wasn't at the expected level./s
Here is a John Oliver slide-splitter...and an eye-opener. It's about 20 minutes long, but worth the effort. He nails the Copelands, Creflo Dollar, John Tilton and one or two others.
I don't have time to watch it before work, but that line alone is promising.
Funny, I am an alumni of Our Lady of Perpetual Misery
What burns me is that our long term federal tax policy is what has allowed goddamn TV preachers like the Copelands to accumulate billion dollar personal fortunes tax flippin free. That is not what our founders intended when they wrote the First Amendment. They could not imagine individual preachers enriching themselves personally at the expense of our entire nation. What is up with individual preachers accumulating billions tax free? That is bullshit in my opinion. That is stupid. That is medieval. There were actually some damn good reasons why Henry VIII confiscated most of the accumulated wealth of all the Catholic Church and monasteries. By skimming inordinate percentages right off the top of the English economy over time the churches and the monasteries had accumulated pretty much all the wealth and property there was in the British economy. Who today owns the most real estate in the US? The Catholic Church. Next is the Methodist Church or the Baptist Churches depending on whose accounting you use and that is not just all that prime real estate where their churches sit. Nope, that to an amazing percentage ownership of the gleaming high-rise residences and business towers of New York and San Francisco. It is long past time to tax all of the churchs' property and accumulated wealth and holdings and to impose some sensible standard accounting practices regarding for profit churches like Copland's and the rest and all those shady non-proftis, too. The evangelical blood suckers who leach off our economy have taken our dumb system to a new level of audaciousness by figuring out how to personally enrich themselves. All of those charismatic evangelical TV preachers like the Copelands and the Tiltons and the Robertsons and the Grahams and the Falwells and the Swaggarts and the Hagees and the Olsteens and all the rest like the dang Scientologists.
Tax The Churches. Pay off the national debt. Pay for everybody's healthcare.
That is what Jesus would do...
Gloria Copeland's Lord and Master has prepared a place for her in his domain which is not heaven.
... mic drop
I totally agree, where I live the churches always build on vast tracts of land, they look like they are sitting on a golf course. Relatively small church has a huge convention center and RV campground, another has numerous buildings on the church property that are rented out to commercial businesses' tax exempt. The list is long and the abuses longer.
What causes so many to believe such nonsense?
Misplaced hope and ignorance I would suppose. I thought Peter Popoff and his miracle water was one of the sillier things I had heard of late, but this one wins.