Bartholomew's Notes

A somewhat lacklustre performance from Walid Shoebat, the former computer programmer turned professional anti-Muslim polemicist and conspiracy theorist. Shoebat, whom I’ve blogged ad nauseum over the past few months, was giving an interview about the upcoming election on God’s Learning Channel, a Christian Zionist outfit that covers the southwest of the USA. Semi-slumped in his chair and looking tired, Shoebat held forth on Barack Obama, complaining more than once on the injustice that no-one makes a fuss when someone says “Hilary Rodham Clinton”, but for some reason going on about Obama’s middle name results in criticism.

The supposed “expert” on Islam also lazily worked through some anti-Obama talking points culled from right-wing media outlets, unashamedly cribbing from a couple of sheets of A4 he’d brought with him (at one point simply reading a passage from a Stanley Kurtz article).

Two candidates for most OTT pronouncement:

(1) Shoebat explains why Obama is pro-choice:

Of course, because there’s nothing better Islamists want to do than have Americans kill their own children, so it’s not a problem for him.

(2) Shoebat explains Islam’s plan for Obama:

Islam could not defeat us by destroying the twin towers. But they are able to defeat us by sneaking in their man.

The interview has been placed on YouTube by an anonymous Canadian source called “LeaveIslamNow“, who appears to be unaffiliated to either Shoebat or the TV programme (looks more like some kind of Catholic traditionalist). “LeaveIslamNow” has a handy list explaining why Obama is the anti-Christ (actually this has been around the net for a few months). It includes the observations that “He will come mounted on a white Female horse (Obama mother is white who had 6 African husbands)” and “Barack Hussein Obama is the King of the South predicted in the Bible. (Daniel .11, Kenya is south of Jerusalem)”.

Shoebat was recently at the Little Country Church at Redding, CA, giving one of his apocalyptic “prophecy seminars“; he’s got an appointment at Berkeley coming up, courtesy of Berkeley College Republicans and California Patriot.

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The Chinese Peoples’ Daily is gleeful over a conference in Ukraine apparently devoted to attacking Falun Gong:

A two-day international roundtable “Information Extremism: The Truth and Falsehood of Falun Gong Cult” ended on Tuesday, or October 14, in Kiev, Ukraine. Participants from various countries were unanimous in the view that the “Falun Gong” is a well-organized evil cult with great destructive power, which has wrought havocs to society and general public; it is a cult organization with an intrinsic tendency of potential violence.

Alas, the journalist’s English-writing skills are less than adequate, and working out who was actually there is rather tricky. For example, the report mentions

Griss Fridrih, president of the Federation for European Sectarian Research…

That’s actually Friedrich Griess of the Fédération Européenne des Centres de Recherche et d’Information sur le Sectarisme (FECRIS).

…Markovic Arnold, director of the Superstition Hotline Clinic in New York City, the U.S.,

That would be Arnold Markowitz of the Cult Hotline & Clinic.

…Bokin, director of the Russian State Religion Relations and Law Studies Institute

That’s Igor Ponkin of the Institute for State-Confessional Relations and Law (ISCRL) (Ponkin, an Orthodox nationalist, was recently in the news calling for goth and emo music to be banned).

A Spanish translation is even worse, giving us “Glis Fuderih”, “Markovich Arnolid”, and “Botin”.

Other “experts” mentioned are (links added) “Lipovskaya Natalya Anatolevna (f), a doctor of national management from the Ukrainian Academy of Customs Science”; “Vershinin Mihail Valerevna, an expert from the State-owned Samara University in Russia”, “Leshinskaya Elena Albertovna (f), a researcher from the Ukrainian Academy of Education Sciences”.

If we take the People’s Daily‘s word for it, the conference appears to have consisted of diatribes against Falun Gong that fully endorse the Chinese government’s perspective that it is “evil” and should be suppressed.

(Hat tip: Cult News Network)

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Despite a heart operation at the start of this month, Pastor John Hagee has found the time and energy to knock off a new book: a predictably opportunistic tome entitled Financial Armageddon. Christian Retailing has the background:

To be released Nov. 11 by Strang’s current events/political imprint, FrontLine, the book was written in less than three weeks after the recent banking crash.

In Financial Armageddon, Hagee—senior pastor of 19,000-member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio—addresses the origins of the global oil and economic crises as well as how readers can protect their personal finances.

Amazon provides the blurb:

…In Financial Armageddon, successful businessman and pastor John Hagee addresses the subject of global oil and economic crisis head on, demonstrating clearly that God has much to say about both the current oil and economic crises and our personal finances in general.

Christians like every other American should know how these issues are going to affect their personal finances. But even more important to consider as Christians is this: What does God have to say about global events affecting America and the world, and what advice does He give to His children for avoiding the devastation of financial collapse? God has already revealed the information we need to understand how Bible prophecy intersects with world events, and has given us an investment manual for knowing how to manage our personal finance. It is the Word of God! As you read, remember that God has promised to bless His people. Rest assured that God is in control. You can have peace and financial security even when the world seems to be collapsing around you. Rather than hit the panic button, concentrate on finding ways to glorify God in the way you live. Trust our Heavenly Father He will never let you down.

Hagee has been predicting an economic meltdown for a long time. If his new book is true to form, it will not be not be a measured discussion of the need to avoid excessive debt; instead, get ready for a baroque conspiracy theory about how the world’s financial system has been manipulated by the Illuminati for the benefit of the Anti-christ’s New World Order:

The Illuminati were a super secret organization of international financial power brokers in Europe, who had as their goal a worldwide economic power, and they would rule the world through economic wealth…

Now here are the four things that have to happen before the New World Order can come to power. One, there must be the destruction of the economic system, the monetary system.

It may be shocking to you but I believe that America’s economic problems are not created by market conditions, they are planned and orchestrated to devalue and to destroy the value of the dollar.

It was done by an unseen government that I’ll discuss later in this message.

…Our economic destiny is controlled by the Federal Reserve system that is now headed by Alan Greenspan.  Think about this.  It is not a government institution.  It is controlled by a group of Class A stockholders including the Rothschilds of Europe and the David Rockerfellers of America…

(Hat tip: Religion Blog of the Dallas Morning News)

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From the T.D. Jakes Devotional and Journal (Day 233):

Isn’t a hero someone who puts himself at risk to help someone else?…I wonder if some of the men and women whom we say “failed” actually tarnished their records by having the courage to climb high enough to take the risks that others would not be willing to take…in order to help others.

From the Lusaka Times:

RENOWNED American televangelist TD Jakes who was expected in Zambia and was scheduled to officiate at the Africa Global Summit has postponed his coming for fear of a mysterious disease that was reported last week to have killed some people.

Efforts by summit organizers to reassure Bishop Jakes and his team through the ministry of Health, Foreign Affairs and American embassy in Zambia that there was no such a disease in the country proved futile.

Apparently a Zambian woman died last month of a rat fever, and she passed the disease on to medical staff in South Africa. According to an earlier report, Jakes had planned “to meet the presidential hopefuls in an effort to maintain the prevailing peace ahead of this month’s presidential election.” He had been invited by Nevers Mumba, an evangelist and former Vice President of the country.

Many commentators to the Times website are rather scathing:

Am shocked that he has refused to come. When God sent Jonah to go preach, Jonah hid and ended up being swallowed by the fish and then he finally went…

“You will walk on snakes and the poison will do you no harm……”.A man of God lives by the words of scripture but what TD Jakes has done just confirms that he reads more of news papers than the word.You shall know them by their fruits…

 you can imagine the so called imitators or followers of Christ scampering away on the suggestion of a “mysterious” disease. These are faith healers by the way. This is the breed of people in the likes of Nevers Mumba. You shall know them by the fruit of their works. Watch your money when you are buying these tickets for TD Jakes & his circus clowns.

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Much of the discussion over Sarah Palin’s “anointing” by witch-hunting Pastor Thomas Muthee has focused on what this tells us about the VP candidate; however, the resulting scrutiny also now has had unhappy consequences for the Kenyan evangelist, as journalist Zoe Alsop, writing for Womensenews, tracks down Mama Jane Njengu, the supposed “witch” whom Muthee boasts of having run out of town. It seems Muthee’s account is disputed by his victim; and his fellow-pastors are not impressed.

Alsop explains:

Muthee claimed that police rescued Mama Jane from a lynch mob at the time, and then whisked her away for good after gunning down a pet python they mistook for a demon.

But some residents of Kiambu were somewhat skeptical of Muthee’s claims.

Not least among them is the herbalist Jane W. Njenga, a pastor with the African Mission of Holy Ghost Church, who is best known as Mama Jane.

She says she didn’t own a pet python and she’s never left her compound, located about a half-mile from Muthee’s immense new church…Robust and topping six feet in the trademark shiny white robes of her church, Njenga is undeniably still in town.

Njenga also claims that Muthee “took a loudspeaker into the street and he told people to pray for seven days that I would die”.

The story has been picked up (without acknowledging Alsop’s work) by the UK Daily Telegraph, under the headline “False claims exposed of Kenyan pastor who protected Sarah Palin from witches”. It includes this detail:

…Rival pastors in Kiambu now denounce Muthee for his treatment of Mama Jane.

“You cannot make personal gain on crucifying a woman,” said an ally of Mama Jane, Pastor Gideon Maina. “As a man of God, you don’t make your name by stepping on other people’s names.”

Muthee has been endorsed by C. Peter Wagner, leader of the Charismatic “New Apostolic Reformation”. A couple of months ago one evangelist for whom Wagner prophesized a glorious future withdrew from public ministry following an affair.

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Just for fun, here’s the most amusing anti-Obama headline I’ve seen* (via Conwebwatch):

* NB: Excluding articles by people named Pastor J. Grank Swank

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From OneNewsNow, under the heading “Israel fears potential Obama presidency”:

Evangelist and Middle East expert Tom Doyle says the people of Israel are very concerned about a possible Barack Obama presidency in the United States.

…Israelis have told him they are concerned about a possible Barack Obama presidency.

“This is what I heard over and over: we have a candidate who was born Muslim. He has a Muslim name, and he claims that he’s converted to Christianity. But in the Middle East when you do that, usually you change your name to a Christian name,” Doyle points out. “All we can interpret is that he’s still a Muslim — which wouldn’t bode well for Israel — or at least has strong Islamic roots, and there’s a real nervousness.”

Doyle is the author of Two Nations Under God: Why You Should Care About Israel, and he has a blog here, in which he describes his missionary efforts in Afghanistan and in Israel. He also has close links with Joel C Rosenberg, whom I blogged here. The missionary organisation he works for is called “E3 Partners” (formerly “Global Missionary Fellowship”); the President of the organisation, Curtis Hail, has his own blog here.

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Annie Jacobsen mocks Muslim opposition to Barbie dolls:

“Barbie is an emissary of nudity and promotes moral corruption,” wrote the hardliner [Iranian] newspaper Kahyan. [In Saudi Arabia] the ban-Barbie effort was huge. The religious police, or Mutaween, hung colorful posters outlawing “Jewish Barbie dolls” in schools and hospitals across the country…

Such hysteria over a mass-produced American doll is surely a sign of morbid paranoia in the Islamic world; thank goodness the West is more sensible…

From Fox News:

A doll some are claiming utters pro-Islam and even satanic messages has outraged parents in Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.

People insist they can hear Fisher-Price’s “Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Cuddle and Coo” mumbling “Islam is the light” and “Satan is king,” according to KJRH.com and MyFOXKC.com.

KJRH has a recording of the doll, and a statement from Fisher Price:

The Little Mommy Cuddle ‘n Coo dolls feature realistic baby sounds including cooing, giggling, and baby babble with no real sentence structure. The only scripted word the doll says is “mama.” There is a sound that may resemble something close to the word “night, right, or light.”…

Back in 2006 I blogged on WorldNetDaily‘s promotion of Rape of the Soul, a documentary which claims that Catholic art contains hidden sexual and satanic images that incite priests to commit abuse. Then as now, the claims tell us more about the people making them than what is objectively there.

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Someone’s not keen on my postings (here and here) speculating about the cover-art changes to The Third Jihad DVD. An anonymous commentator graced my first posting with the assessment “you are a moron”, and in the second instance offered the opinion that:

I don’t see any resemblance at all. I think you’d be better off hunting the Loch Ness [sic] or something.

Fair enough. Unexpectedly, however, both messages come from the same IP address in South Africa, and they appeared quite quickly after my postings.

By coincidence, South Africa happens to be the home of Third Jihad director Wayne Kopping. I wonder if my nemesis knows him?

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Further details at my Ambassadors for Moon blog.

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