I have read so many things about this thief, it has made me sick. I first started investigating her this week because I was talking to some friends about a band I used to managed that worked for this woman at her Dream Center in St. Louis.

The guys (3 of them) and their wives all worked for this freak. They were under strict commandment that if they were ever caught smoking, cussing or drinking, they would be promptly fired from her employ.

The band and I parted ways due to irreconcilable differences -- i.e. they didn't want to work. But they also left a bunch of bills unpaid. I thought this to be the norm with Christians -- as so many of them pull fast ones on people.

Well, now that I have had a better understanding of where their hero comes from - its no wonder they felt like everyone owes them--as she does.

In law school, we called what she's doing, embezzlement and fraud. Usually folks go to prison for that. When will she?

I found some of her tapes in my library and did a little internet search on her about two weeks ago just to see what she was up to. Negative reviews are coming in. It's hard to tell exactly why, from your post, Meyer should be indicted for embelzzlement and fraud, if she owed a band back pay. The authors of an article on [www.pfo.org], TG. Richard Fisher and Paul R. Belli, have some interesting things to say about Meyer, and if they are being truthful, sounds like she might be another superstar in tele-evangelism, except the Christian critics think she doesn't know her stuff, and the authors say she is plaigarizing others. Makes me think of Werner E. I didn't have this tape that has the following passage on being a sinner.

"Meyer also declared on the tape that she no longer is a sinner:

“I’m going to tell you something folks, I didn’t stop sinning until I finally got it through my thick head I wasn’t a sinner anymore. And the religious world thinks that’s heresy and they want to hang you for it. But the Bible says that I’m righteous and I can’t be righteous and be a sinner at the same time ... All I was ever taught to say was, ‘I’m a poor, miserable sinner.’ I am not poor, I am not miserable and I am not a sinner. That is a lie from the pit of hell. That is what I was and if I still am then Jesus died in vain. Amen?”



WORD WIZARDRY (my note - sounds familiar)

Meyer, in her new book, writes, “Words are containers for power” (The Name, The Word, The Blood, pg. 37). Word-Faith teachers advocate that through speaking and positive affirmations we can create our own reality. They usually refer to Genesis 1 and show that God spoke the world into existence and extrapolate that we, too, can speak creative words and can speak reality into existence.

The fact that the premise breaks down because we are not God does not deter Meyer from saying, “Remember then, that the Word of God is both spirit and life, use wisdom and begin speaking life to your situation” (ibid., pg. 38).

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Hope
WORD WIZARDRY (my note - sounds familiar)

Meyer, in her new book, writes, “Words are containers for power” (The Name, The Word, The Blood, pg. 37). Word-Faith teachers advocate that through speaking and positive affirmations we can create our own reality. They usually refer to Genesis 1 and show that God spoke the world into existence and extrapolate that we, too, can speak creative words and can speak reality into existence.

Thanks for the info Hope. This is the kind of stuff that really interests me -- cross-over of New Age thinking into mainstream religious thinking. The LGAT meets the prosperity/possibility gospel. At the last (and I mean last ever!) LGAT graduation event I went to with my friend, the leader talked on and on about the power of language, exhorting the folk to use language to leave others "touched, moved and inspired" (and therefore willing to enroll in whatever the person was doing - especially the LGAT). Of course, the fact that a limited vocabulary might limit their power seems to have missed them. My friend recently told me that what her LGAT is all about is that "language is power."

This is not to say that I don't think words can be powerful. A kind word to someone who is having a bad day can be powerful. A cruel remark to a child can leave them feeling worthless. But it is this twisted belief that words, have the power to "create reality" for oneself that I object to.

Interesting that Wayne Dyer is on right now talking about "inspiration." Gee, seems I've heard that word somewhere . . . . Will this nonsense ever stop? Rhetorical question -- answer is no.

POWER, POWER, POWER. That's what all of this seems to be about. The thirst to be their own god -- be in control, trust only themselves -- as if saying "thanks God, really, but I'll take it from here." Those who thirst for power, either because they feel powerless, or they want more than they have, drink it up . Babes with power tools. The band Whitehart had a song with this title years ago, and I think of it often when I encounter this gospel/philosophy. Those that get sucked into this are about as responsible with power as a two-year old with a circular saw. Someone ends up getting hurt.


-lightwolf

My boyfriend's parents are Nazarene and his mom listens to Joyce Meyer every morning and he can't stand it because whenever she questions his mom about anything regarding her teaching, she blows him off and gets mad at him because he has the "audacity" to questions "the Word of God." It's really quite funny if you get over being mad at her, but Joyce Meyer is completely false. Even worse is Benny Hinn. A good rule of thumb is, if it's on T.V., they should probably be indicted for some felony or another.

Kelly

Documents on this site about Meyer:
[www.culteducation.com]

I did not know much about Meyer, other than just being skeptical of televangelists, before looking into this thread. Interesting reading. The thing that comes to my mind after reading several of these articles is: if giving is so good, why isn't Meyer giving away the equity in her nice spread, or inviting the homeless to occupy those homes? Apparently charity begins in someone else's home.


-lightwolf

Well, one of the characteristics of an unhealthy group is lack of meaningful accountability. Like other major word-faith ministries, Joyce Meyers' church board largely consists of family members. I seem to recall Joyce Meyer defending her families multi-milllion dollar compound as a security measure, but if you ask me, it is a classic example of the nepotism that is rampant in Word-Faith ministries. The last I heard, Joyce Meyer was planning on selling the property, including the houses. The reason was financial benefit. It seems the value of the property has increased since it was first built, and selling it would net her a huge return. What makes Word of Faith theology wholly corrupt, in my opinion, is that works like a pyramid scheme. Those at the bottom are promised wealth, while those at the top reap it. Those at the bottom end up dissillusioned when they realize that the health and wealth they were promised are nowhere in site, and when they begin to question whether this health and wealth theology is really biblical, find themselves criticized for lacking faith. There is a striking similarity in the emotional and psychological trauma that adherents to Christian Science and adherents to Word-Faith sects experience after failure to receive physical healings or financial "breakthroughs." My advice is avoid ALL word-faith teachers, including Joyce Meyer.

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samp
My advice is avoid ALL word-faith teachers, including Joyce Meyer.

I agree. I don't like their voices either. They are always yelling at the listeners.
Are you in Turkey?

I'm in the U.S.A.

I'm sorry, I think I misunderstood your question. Were you asking me if I was in Turkey, or were you being facetious?

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samp
I'm sorry, I think I misunderstood your question. Were you asking me if I was in Turkey, or were you being facetious?

Thanks for answering, and I wasn't being facetious. I know somebody in Turkey with the name of sam p and I was wondering if it was you. Now I see it isn't! Sorry for the vagueness! :?