Page 3: “The world cries out for a uniform standard of morals and ethics while its leaders continue to promote division wherever they find it. We have a condition of high-tech “tribalism” on a worldwide scale. Behind it all, of course, is the struggle for power; but how is it that a few thousand individuals can manipulate 7 billion other people? Could it all be traced to the innocent and oh-so-sensitive “ego,” along with the manipulation of it, or is it more sinister than that? We address some of those questions in this book.”
Page 13: “Church leadership makes indirect references to the bible by suggesting that we read it, while not believing we will. Religious icons carry a version of it around with them wherever they go…yet; it is merely their passport to someone seeking to learn about Christianity, rather than something they actually teach.”
Page 32: “As some create their version of Jesus to be presented to you, they avoid teaching all of the New Testament’s record of His life and His teachings. The finished product of their Jesus is just that, a product created for the culture of the day. I’m surprised that some group has not filed for a patent claiming legal exclusive rights to the brand name “Jesus;” and making it their “trademark.”
Page 38: “Christianity is now being presented (in part) the same as any other corporation or business, with God being the product. It exists entirely within a free-market religious system, with no central organization at its core. A church or congregation is established individually when and where there seems to be a demand for it; and rises and falls based upon their ability to create income. Like any other free enterprise business, the customer (their membership) is always right and their job becomes one of satisfying the customer. Individual churches display little uniformity in their search for customer satisfaction, and become as much of a competitor for members as you find in the competition in any other business. The various “denominations” have become no more that franchises in a religious business. One cuts the mustard and the other the onions and you select one depending upon your individual taste or preference.”
Page 44: “Many of us have been “made merchandise” by skilled religious politicians. It has resulted in the surrender of our traditional culture and values, and was the beginning and the reason for the downfall of the United States of America as we have known it. Those claiming Christianity represent an overwhelming majority within the USA; yet, each and every victory or inroad the “progressive” movement achieved over the last 40 or 50 years was achieved under the watchful eye of the so-called Christian community. That included the election of unworthy public officials, the complete take-over and saturation of our colleges and universities, the establishment and promotion of sport and entertainment Icon worship, the endorsement of Hollywood and media’s cultural concepts, a “thumbs-up” to the systematic dismantling of parental authority, a denial and restraining of Christian tradition in public places, as well as the distortion and compromise of our legal system, including constitutional rights.”
Page 48: “It is difficult to truly understand a God who is presented as being completely different from the human beings He supposedly created. Considering the broad range of human emotions, wouldn’t it be rather strange that the God that created us would have less emotion? How could the creator create an emotion He is not familiar with?”
Page 56: “‘Religions’ political version of ‘diversity’ is to allow ‘seekers’ to create their own personalized god. It is a similar strategy as that used by the government politicians because of its ‘laser-like’ personalized deception. In the political arena it is the politician who becomes the savior to each individual. In the religious arena it is deception about God’s image and His message that, in turn, makes the religious politician (and/or his organization) the only savior left standing, not God.”
Page 64: “Where else does their presentation of Christianity exist except through the promotion of a welfare program, headed up by God Himself, and administered by whatever church God has appointed to have authority over you?”
Page 66: “Rick Warren is the most successful religious icon of the 21st Century, and the most successful icon of the 20th Century was Billy Graham. They both obtained great notoriety and acclaim, yet from different positions of strength. Both have charismatic personalities, which is fundamental to every successful religious icon. Not only do they have a knack for speaking well, but they speak with authority. The AUTHORATATIVE God-like tone-of-voice they have cultivated is a key to their attraction. The thrust of Warren’s strength was through the pen, while Graham mesmerized his audiences with great oratory skills.
Neither Warren nor Graham personally taught much about God’s standards for living our life in this world. Neither of the two defined or declared biblical Christianity to their massive audiences of seekers. The history of both ministries reflected the promotion of a marketing plan designed to increase institutional church membership, having less to do with teaching about a “Christian” lifestyle. Look around you and ask yourself where Christianity exists after 60 years of their combined “ministries?” Where does its bright “candle” shine? Where is its “salted savor?” Teaching God’s life- plan for mankind is not always the fastest way to increase church membership and ran counter to the goals of both their ministries. Their objectives were to fill the pews, leaving it to the institutions to handle it from there. They didn’t handle it.”