divine intervention

Pastor Wiley Drake A Modern Sorcerer?

Pastor Wiley Drake is fairly new to my radar. I remember him being mentioned after the murder of George Tiller, but I never really did much research on him. This man is just as certifiably nuts as any of the other more “popular” biblical literalists. He and his “prayer warriors” use imprecatory prayers to wish harm onto those who invoke his ire. This is nothing more than a modern attempt to curse people. Yes, you read correctly – curse. The Wikipedia entry for “imprecatory prayer” even redirects to the page for “curse.” The same thing that Lord Voldemort does to those unfortunate enough to cross his path in the Harry Potter series is being done by an American pastor and former leader of the Southern Baptist Convention.

His latest shtick revolves around wishing death upon U.S. politicians, including the late Rep. John Murtha and Pres. Obama, for… you know… not doing what he would like them to do. While most of us would take the logical route and join a letter writing campaign, support the opposition in an upcoming election, or lobby our elected officials directly, Pastor Drake takes the traditional Christian easy way out and simply prays — for swift death. Lucky for anyone on his shit list, prayer is pointless, and thus, causes no harm. It should serve to illustrate how bat shit insane the man is though.

Listen to the audio below of Pastor Drake speaking as a guest on Alan Colmes’ radio show. (Video from CrooksandLiars.com)

God Sends Mixed Martial Artist on a Mission

Late this summer, UFC fighter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was arrested and detained for felony reckless driving and hit and run after an exciting chase. His identity was difficult to ascertain at first, but police eventually identified Jackson as the driver when they noticed that he looked just like the guy painted on the outside of the vehicle.

Anyway, Jackson’s Wikipedia entry has testimony from friends and colleagues commenting on his mental instability and depression. Keep that first one in mind when you digest the following. The reason Jackson was driving like a maniac and destroying others’ property while do so was because he was en route to counsel a friend who had lost his faith. Mental instability? I think so!

From the Orange County Register:

Jackson, a former UFC champion who is one of the biggest names in one of the fastest-growing sports, said he also felt there was a spiritual war going on in his mind between God and the devil when he raced down Newport Boulevard on July 15, leaving a wake of rumpled cars, frightened pedestrians and angry police.

He said he thought he was on a mission to save a friend – who had recently lost his faith in God – and was unaware that he had hit any other cars or was being pursued by a phalanx of police cars.

“I thought I heard the voice of God telling me to go save Brian,” he said in an interview Thursday after his arraignment on two felony evading arrest charges. “I felt if I didn’t get to Brian, he would die.”

Now, he says, he believes he was irrational because of lack of sleep and nutrition.

It’s interesting that a lack of sleep and malnutrition can cause symptoms of insanity that are strikingly similar to what millions of rested and well-fed people believe every day. Jackson’s lawyer is exploiting his insanity stating that, “The law says you have to have criminal intent. He didn’t have it.” Seriously? A person starves and sleep deprives himself then gets into a vehicle and suddenly is not responsible for his actions because of what his intent wasn’t? What about what his intent actually was? That, to me, is a little more worrisome than his carbohydrate intake. The man believed that the God of Abraham and Satan were battling in his mind over the soul of his friend.

I wish I could say more, but it would just be repeating the same things I’ve thought scores of times, mostly “WTF?!?” People have been masquerading their heinous acts with appeals to religion and insanity (not mutually exclusive) for far too long.

I originally found a blurb about this story at jcnot4me.com, a terribly-designed, hard to navigate, and cluttered website despite its catchy domain.

Ignorant Indianapolis Woman Confuses Inertia for ‘God’

Indianapolis wackaloon Charlotte Thompson recently had the misfortune of stray gunfire tearing into her car. Worse yet, her two great-granddaughters were in the car with her. Luckily, no one was killed in this incident.

As illustrated in the story, let me describe the path of the bullet: through the car door, through her great-granddaughter Shyann, through a purse containing a Bible, and into a watermelon.

Keeping that path in mind, absorb the following quote from Thompson.

Came through the door, hit her, then it went to the Bible, she said. The Bible was sitting on the seat between the two girls. It went in here and come out here and it shredded my Sunday School book. The word of God slowed the bullet so that it didn’t kill anybody.

Right in the watermelon. Didn’t come out of the watermelon, Thompson said. The word of God and the Lord’s power saved. He sent the bullet into the watermelon.

The little girl recovered from her injuries, and I’m very glad of that. However I hope she has a better physics teacher than her ignorant great-grandmother had. In keeping with the principles of inertia, friction and resistance created by the door, the Bible, and a human abdomen slowed the bullet, not “the word of god and the lord’s power”. The fact that this woman even toys with the notion that there was any divine intervention is laughable or infuriating, depending on how much you have to deal with this sort of bullshit on a daily basis.

To falsely teach her great-grandchildren by reinforcing this nonsense is a form of neglect. She is failing to properly educate these children by attributing physical occurrences to the supernatural. Telling kids that ‘thunder is actually angels bowling’ is harmless enough, because I don’t know that the tellers of such tall tales actually believe the stories, and the children will eventually learn about the temperature differential caused by a bolt of lightning. To lead them to believe that God slowed down a bullet to keep anyone from getting killed is plain stupid, and may lead to resistance when the time comes that someone tries to teach them what really happened that day.

By the way, wouldn’t it have been a little more convenient if God had slowed the bullet down before it pierced poor Shyann? Why didn’t God make her carry the watermelon? I know why. Because God doesn’t exist. He is a phantom. Acts are attributed to him when the attributee is too ignorant to know the real cause.

If you haven’t seen the movie Pulp Fiction, watch the clip below for a theatrical replay of this scenario. There is some harsh language, so it’s not quite work safe.