I say, call the child abuse hotline now. Cause – TBN will surely turn this child into a phenom – exploiting and destroying so they can pimp him out on their next telethon. “Child filled with THE SPIRIT†prophesies against Obama! — P Monk
No, call Parker & Stone. This sounds like a basis for a South Park episode — maybe they mistake Kenny’s cussing beneath his orange parka for Words of Prophecy and put him on TBN to “Prophesy Against Obama and Blasphemous TV Cartoonists”…
And when the TBN audience finds out what’s really going on under the parka, Stan gets to say his famous line: “OMG! THEY KILLED KENNY!”
P.S. As you have probably guessed, I fried my brains on a South Park marathon over the weekend. (Who needs drugs?) One of the recent shows in the marathon might prove of interest to this crowd.
Titled “Margaritaville”, it retells the Gospel with Kyle (the Jewish kid) in the Christ role, and (despite South Park’s rep) plays it pretty straight. You see, the recession/depression has hit the town hard, and Stan’s father (not Kyle’s Mom, surprisingly) has flipped out and started a cult on how “We hath Offended the Economy, and the Economy is Wrathful”.
While the townspeople/cultists walk around in bedsheet togas playing Pharisee and showingly abasing themselves (to the point of stoning “blasphemers” who have “made a frivolous purchase”), Kyle (who has somehow acquired a no-limit AMEX card in some sort of promo) tries to talk sense into them — that The Economy isn’t some sort of vengeful god, The Economy is made up of people, and people mess up.
In re-enactments of “Let him who is without sin/has never made a stupid purchase cast the first stone” and the Sermon on the Mount, Kyle, “this Young Jew”, runs afoul of Stan’s Dad’s cult. Cartman makes a deal with Stan’s Dad to betray him for a copy of the latest Grand Theft Auto — 30 silver dollars on eBay — but Kyle “doesn’t give him the opportunity” by making his move:
Setting up in the main town square, Kyle pays off everybody’s credit card debt with his unlimited AMEX; all are free to come. Even his parents and the cultists (including Stan’s Dad) come around to “let him take our debts upon himself”. This takes so long Kyle passes out from exhaustion and is carried away to his room (while his mother weeps about how much Kyle has put himself in hock) where he is awakened by the morning light streaming in the window (in a direct swipe from the end of The Passion).
Twist Epilog: South Park TV news reporter gushing over how the town is recovering, the economy is reviving, people — now free from debt — are working and spending (and getting into debt) again. And “this is all due to the sacrifice and heroism of of one individual! Let us honor him (pause) BARACK OBAMA!” (Cut to photo of Obama making a speech, with halo effect behind head.)
Cut to Kyle, watching TV from the couch, going “WTF?”
Closing credits.
P.P.S. If this doesn’t get IMonk closing the comments…
I liked the kid’s “bunny hops” across the stage. It’s actually cute when a two-year-old does it. When a 32-year-old does it however…
The kid is obviously being coached by the pastor?/dad? Hopefully people there just thought it cute, son imitating poppa, like sons like to do. More importantly, hopefully this kid gets plenty of hugs for doing things other than screaming onstage oncue.
In the end though, even if it is a close church community, putting the kid onstage, whether for worship or entertainment, is highly inappropriate. Posting it on Godtube/Youtube whatever is even more inappropriate. Sure the kid is cute, but parlor tricks are supposed to stay in the parlor.
I say, call the child abuse hotline now. Cause – TBN will surely turn this child into a phenom – exploiting and destroying so they can pimp him out on their next telethon. “Child filled with THE SPIRIT” prophesies against Obama!
You know, usually an infant is forced to proclaim the message of Barney’s love and Teletubbie joy from the back of the sanctuary while squirming in their mother’s lap. What a refreshing thing to see this one given the floor. Now if I can just translate what he means by “ahm gah, ahm gahâ€. — Ed
You know somebody is going to translate “ahm gah, ahm gah” to fit whatever floats his boat. Including God Saith denunciations of Heretics, Apostates, Doubters, and anything he doesn’t like. That’s the thing about “Interpreting Tongues”; when the crowd is whipped up like this one, it’s easy to fake.
I went to the link, and was unable to read most of the comments. I think that I stopped on about page 164 (starting at the last page). — Anna A
I noticed most of the “He’s SO CUTE! SQUEEEE!” comments came from women. And the True Believer comments that “ahm gah, ahm gah” WAS Speaking in Tongues for Praising God and/or some Word of Message directly from God were genuinely scary.
I went to the link, and was unable to read most of the comments. I think that I stopped on about page 164 (starting at the last page).
They are scary, partly because the writers are so non-discerning. It’s not what the child is doing. At home or even in the social hall, with a fake microphone, it would be cute. BUT because they think that God is speaking through the baby. (and even putting doubters down.)
that babe is no differnt than my preacher’s son at 2 up at the alter …copying daddy .
leave him be and may the preacher switch his tune to a God of love instead of a God of hate or that child will grow up hating all things
Joe M — “It is frightening that the motions, enthusiasm, gestures and intonations of a “spirit filled†preacher can be so well mimicked by a toddler.”
That is the point isn’t it. It’s so easy to mesmerize a bunch of needy Christians — even a baby can do it….
Scott, actually, as Headless Unicorn Guy pointed out, its the comment thread on GodTube where this video was originally posted that given this video the context that most of us are horrified about.
It is frightening that the motions, enthusiasm, gestures and intonations of a “spirit filled” preacher can be so well mimicked by a toddler. It says a lot about what turns us on in church. A ten minute sermon on the Cross wouldn’t get much play.
Come on people! I love watching my kids mimic me! For the most part I think this is very fun! The way you people are blasting the parents, congregation and pastor is ridiculous. You people can only assume, based on the video, that you know what is happening. You don’t know the hearts of these people, their philosophy of ministry, context that this occurred and you want to burn them at the steak, take the kid away from the parents and declare them to be the worst church in modern history. Even if the preacher does preach like that when did style of preaching become a moral issue? You that would blast these people for being fundamentalist are doing the same thing that you dislike fundamentalist for doing, judging a book by its cover and declaring it sinful b/c you don’t agree with it. At this rate you would have seen a video of Christ pouring some wine at the wedding in Cana, trip over someone’s foot after doing so and call him a stumbling drunk!
I honestly can’t tell what the church people are thinking in this situation. I mean, at first it looks like people having a good time admiring how cute the little feller is . . . the same way my nephew (when he was about that age) would impersonate Elvis and we got a kick out of it. But, of curse, he is given so much pulpit time that they must be taking this as a serious act of God. That’s sad. It seems like many of us have lost our way when it comes to discerning what is “of God.â€
I reminds me of about three years ago with we had a guest at our church. He is probably a schizophrenic. During out last hymn, he started pacing in the back and singing louder and louder. Then he walked down the isle screaming (in a very angry voice with clinched fists) Praise GOD-DA! I saw about 1/3 of our church start to clap and cheer as if revival had finally come.
Then he got to the pulpit and continued to scream Praise GOD-DA!!! The cheers continued. Then, in a seamless way, continued screaming F*** God, you bunch of F***ing bastards!! The transformation on the faces of those cheering was incredible. The man they thought was a prophet . . . they now thought (in the flash of a second) was demon possessed . . . especially when he next slugged the pastor and several of us men had to tackle him.
But . . . he was mentally sick, which didn’t seem to register in their paradigm of thinking.
Probably one of the most grotesque and bizarre “Christian†acts I ever hope to see. It is exploitation and child abuse, and gives no glory to God. — Dan Crawford
What possesses people to DO this to a kid? Like a Christianese version of Jon Benet Ramsey? How messed up will this kid be when he grows up? How much of just being a kid will he have missed?
Oh, and Richard? Marjoe Gortner (now an actor) admits he was never a Christian at all, he was just putting on the act that was expected of him as an Anointed Child Evangelist. He also says (in some interview, from memory) that this sort of preaching spectacle is the only form of entertainment/performance these types of Christian are allowed to have, so they put all their following into it as the only theater they’ve got. Whether it’s Marjoe (or his Latin American clone) screaming Hellfire-and-Damnation or Benny Hinn “Letting the Bodies Hit the Floor” or Tatted Todd helping the bodies hit the floor with a swift kick to the nuts — “Sheeka-Boom-Bah! BAM!”
Oh no, you mean people might actually exploit children in a church setting for entertainment value? Say it ain’t so Michael.
WE of course like to keep the display of our children within proper boundaries:
– Such as kindergarteners that don’t understand the concept of salvation singing memorized songs.
– Or little children dressed up to look like Mary, Joseph, shepherds, angels, and wise men.
Yep, we like to keep things proper and reverent around here.
You know, usually an infant is forced to proclaim the message of Barney’s love and Teletubbie joy from the back of the sanctuary while squirming in their mother’s lap. What a refreshing thing to see this one given the floor. Now if I can just translate what he means by “ahm gah, ahm gah”.
Probably one of the most grotesque and bizarre “Christian” acts I ever hope to see. It is exploitation and child abuse, and gives no glory to God. The parents are guilty of a crime, but I have no doubt the collection coffers were overflowing after the performance.
Didn’t watch the video. Didn’t have to thanks to the 41 responses. It occurs to me that if children can imitate so well – and this is the result from hanging around “Christians” – then we are “hooped” to a whole breathtakingly new level.
Please, does somebody have a video of a three-year-old acting like St. Francis?
I can’t tell you how this disturbs me. When I was a child, I went to a revival meeting at the Union Gospel Rescue Mission in Charleston West Virginia. (around 1950-51.)They had the largest auditorium in town and all the traveling evangelists would stop there. It was headed up by the wonderful Pat. B. Withrow. You can read about him online. My father worked in the mission thrift store. They also housed an orphanage onsite, so it was big place.
Anywhoooo…the revival meeting on this occasion was one held by a child evangelist. I’ll never forget the one service I went to. Almost scared the hell out of me…but not quite…
Right in the middle of this kid’s sermon he came down into the audience. I was in the front row with all the other kids. He came straight for me and shook is scrawny little finger in my face, hair flying, and shouted at the top of his lungs, “You’re going to hell if you don’t accept Jesus right now. You may walk out that door tonight and be hit by a car and go straight to hell if you don’t receive Jesus.”
I didn’t and I didn’t and I’m not in hell.
That young man’s name..you’ve heard it before. Marjoe Gortner. Yes..the one of the Marjoe movie fame, Earthquake and infamous exploits. A poor sexually abused and used kid. You can read about it at http://search.live.com/images/results.aspx?q=Marjoe+Gortner&mkt=en-us&FORM=H9RE3#focal=3774f5bf39fd62d09d45b7e1f301121b&furl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.slantmagazine.com%2fimages%2ffilm%2fmarjoe.jpg.
So yes…this little boy needs rescue. It’s child abuse as far as I’m concerned. Not to speak of exploitation.
Remember this video when it surfaced on a blog a year or two ago. Here’s what I remember commenting:
Kid comes up, rants into the mike obviously was imitating the local preacher which he’d probably just seen/heard. A lot of the applause is probably women squeeing over the “cuteness” of it all.
Kind of disturbed by the kid’s “preaching style”, loud and intense, reminscent of an Elmer Gantry-style fire & brimstone rant. If that’s the kind of preaching he grows up with, what’s going to happen with him later on?
The original source of this video was not YouTube, but one of its Christian (TM) knockoffs — GodTube, maybe. The comments there were what was disturbing; about half claimed the kid was Led by The Holy Spirit, some to the point The Holy Spirit was the one REALLY speaking. (How this differed from a Loa of Voudun mounting and riding his “horse” was not addressed.)
Conclusion: This was a candidate for one of those “America’s Dumbest Home Video” shows, but a lot of people were reading WAY too much into it.
The video grieves me as I see it does most of you. However, there seems to be a lot of judging of the Pentecostal or charismatic people in the comments.
As someone who believes that I Corinthians 13-14 is for today, I’d like to share with you that there is a great number of Pentecostal and/or Charismatic people who would also be very disturbed at this video.
It is tremendously sad that there are large groups of people that would interpret this as a sign from God. But please do not assume that includes the majority of those who believe the spiritual gifts are for today and that most Pentecostals or charismatic are not students of the word of God.
The kid is imitating what he sees week in and week out as babies will — monkey see, monkey do; it’s the adults who need to get over themselves. My son used to drag my potato bin out to the middle of the kitchen floor, lay his toddler Bible or a Noah’s Ark storybook on it, and “preach,” just like he saw our pastor do. And like the adults in the video, our pastor at the time determined that meant my 2-year-old son was going to be his “Timothy” and got quite upset whenever my husband attempted to get our son to sing, or if anyone else suggested he had a talent toward anything other than preaching. Everyone in the above congregation seems to be trying to make something out of nothing. Sounds like a “Seinfeld” episode.
For those of you that never attended a “cutting edge church” (not my words but theirs) this type of thing is much more common than you’d think. Never saw a kid this young being prompted by a pastor (and if you notice there was some) but I’ve seen many a young teenager having a pastor walking behind him and “helping him move into his gift”. Most of those kids are now very confused and in poor lifestyles.
The “Amens” in the crowd are serious. They think they are seeing the “power of God” on this kid. And that, sadly, will be the talk of the day instead of anything about Christ’s work for us sinners.
I half expected to see that it was one of my old “pastors” up there with the kid and was surprised when the camera finally should his face that it wasn’t someone I knew.
My first thought was a KKK rally. Then I thought, this is a church probably a pentecostal one at that. What a sad thing to see. Then I wonder why pentecostals lack discernment of spirits and how they tend to look down on those who are a bit more quieter.
Let me run to a calmer church and get on my Knees and hear from God.
“For all we know, it was all being done in fun —”
That kid looks like he’s been so trained it’s disturbing. If it weren’t for the way he easily hands over the mike after the man tells him something like “just one more…”, you could almost think it was just a spontaneous occurrence. I got my doubts…
Kenny: I tried hard to reserve judgment and think of the context, but as I said, I “grew up” spiritually in the Charismatic realm. There were no giggles of delight in a small child’s antics to be heard–if it was just in fun, the whole congregation was in on making it appear that they thought he was seriously preaching.
Don’t get me wrong, the Charismatic church did a lot of good for me: it taught me about grace and mercy, among other things, and I’m glad of my time there. All I’m saying is that if I walked into my old church (I’m Anglican now) and saw that scene, it wouldn’t surprise me…
I agree with Kenny. Lighten up! At least he’s not trying to imitate the “Renewed Mind” dance.
It could be worse – my pastor’s baby’s earliest attempts at syllables sounded just like the F-bomb. It was easy for his mouth to form those consonants, so he’d bark it out at random moments… to great, though accidental, effect.
I think you guys are overreacting. As far as I can tell, we don’t know the context of this at all. For all we know, it was all being done in fun — which is actually what I assumed until I read some of the comments here.
The only thing that disturbs me is that he is likely imitating what he’s seen, and that style of preaching is definitely something that rubs me the wrong way.
Though as one who believes in a rather strict (as in narrow) interpretation of the gift of tongues, I did have to wonder whether they thought that the child was – just because to me thats what most pentacostal speaking in tongues seems like to me as one who didn’t grow up in that tradition….
I agree with David. This kid is just doing what he has learned from example. Frankly, this might be the best gospel message they have heard in a long time(that might be a little over the snark line).
Supposedly, when I was about two, I would stand behind the piano bench at home with a Bible open in front of me and bang my hand down while saying, “de Bible say!” over and over. Maybe they should have put me in the pulpit back then.
This could be a Baptist church for all we know, and the kid is imitating a “anointed” Baptist preacher.
Don’t confuse an 18 month old babbling with speaking in tongues.
I would like to add that this is why I don’t like preachers who shout and go into histrionics. Give me a preacher who speaks like he is carrying on a conversation any day.
David has it exactly right. This child has seen the adults in his life do this from get-go, and is simply mimicking. Unfortunately, the adults who are clapping and amening likely think that the child is delivering a message in tongues. I have to wonder if there was anyone there to give an “interpretation”. There are churches I know of (and used to attend) where such behavior would not be unexpected…
Do they realize the baby is just mimicking what he sees up on the pulpit? It is so obvious based on his behavior, how he will walk away with the smirk on his face and the skip in his step. He is loving the attention. It’s what every baby does. Babies figure out a certain behavior that will evoke the most affirmation and then milks it for all it’s worth.
Where is the discernment?
I can not even find humor in this video, it simply breaks my heart.
The Internet Monk Archives
..and if you play it backwards, the kid is singing “Stairway to Heaven”.
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I say, call the child abuse hotline now. Cause – TBN will surely turn this child into a phenom – exploiting and destroying so they can pimp him out on their next telethon. “Child filled with THE SPIRIT†prophesies against Obama! — P Monk
No, call Parker & Stone. This sounds like a basis for a South Park episode — maybe they mistake Kenny’s cussing beneath his orange parka for Words of Prophecy and put him on TBN to “Prophesy Against Obama and Blasphemous TV Cartoonists”…
And when the TBN audience finds out what’s really going on under the parka, Stan gets to say his famous line: “OMG! THEY KILLED KENNY!”
P.S. As you have probably guessed, I fried my brains on a South Park marathon over the weekend. (Who needs drugs?) One of the recent shows in the marathon might prove of interest to this crowd.
Titled “Margaritaville”, it retells the Gospel with Kyle (the Jewish kid) in the Christ role, and (despite South Park’s rep) plays it pretty straight. You see, the recession/depression has hit the town hard, and Stan’s father (not Kyle’s Mom, surprisingly) has flipped out and started a cult on how “We hath Offended the Economy, and the Economy is Wrathful”.
While the townspeople/cultists walk around in bedsheet togas playing Pharisee and showingly abasing themselves (to the point of stoning “blasphemers” who have “made a frivolous purchase”), Kyle (who has somehow acquired a no-limit AMEX card in some sort of promo) tries to talk sense into them — that The Economy isn’t some sort of vengeful god, The Economy is made up of people, and people mess up.
In re-enactments of “Let him who is without sin/has never made a stupid purchase cast the first stone” and the Sermon on the Mount, Kyle, “this Young Jew”, runs afoul of Stan’s Dad’s cult. Cartman makes a deal with Stan’s Dad to betray him for a copy of the latest Grand Theft Auto — 30 silver dollars on eBay — but Kyle “doesn’t give him the opportunity” by making his move:
Setting up in the main town square, Kyle pays off everybody’s credit card debt with his unlimited AMEX; all are free to come. Even his parents and the cultists (including Stan’s Dad) come around to “let him take our debts upon himself”. This takes so long Kyle passes out from exhaustion and is carried away to his room (while his mother weeps about how much Kyle has put himself in hock) where he is awakened by the morning light streaming in the window (in a direct swipe from the end of The Passion).
Twist Epilog: South Park TV news reporter gushing over how the town is recovering, the economy is reviving, people — now free from debt — are working and spending (and getting into debt) again. And “this is all due to the sacrifice and heroism of of one individual! Let us honor him (pause) BARACK OBAMA!” (Cut to photo of Obama making a speech, with halo effect behind head.)
Cut to Kyle, watching TV from the couch, going “WTF?”
Closing credits.
P.P.S. If this doesn’t get IMonk closing the comments…
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I liked the kid’s “bunny hops” across the stage. It’s actually cute when a two-year-old does it. When a 32-year-old does it however…
The kid is obviously being coached by the pastor?/dad? Hopefully people there just thought it cute, son imitating poppa, like sons like to do. More importantly, hopefully this kid gets plenty of hugs for doing things other than screaming onstage oncue.
In the end though, even if it is a close church community, putting the kid onstage, whether for worship or entertainment, is highly inappropriate. Posting it on Godtube/Youtube whatever is even more inappropriate. Sure the kid is cute, but parlor tricks are supposed to stay in the parlor.
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I say, call the child abuse hotline now. Cause – TBN will surely turn this child into a phenom – exploiting and destroying so they can pimp him out on their next telethon. “Child filled with THE SPIRIT” prophesies against Obama!
If there was ever a need for intervention…
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You know, usually an infant is forced to proclaim the message of Barney’s love and Teletubbie joy from the back of the sanctuary while squirming in their mother’s lap. What a refreshing thing to see this one given the floor. Now if I can just translate what he means by “ahm gah, ahm gahâ€. — Ed
You know somebody is going to translate “ahm gah, ahm gah” to fit whatever floats his boat. Including God Saith denunciations of Heretics, Apostates, Doubters, and anything he doesn’t like. That’s the thing about “Interpreting Tongues”; when the crowd is whipped up like this one, it’s easy to fake.
I went to the link, and was unable to read most of the comments. I think that I stopped on about page 164 (starting at the last page). — Anna A
I noticed most of the “He’s SO CUTE! SQUEEEE!” comments came from women. And the True Believer comments that “ahm gah, ahm gah” WAS Speaking in Tongues for Praising God and/or some Word of Message directly from God were genuinely scary.
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This is what happens when your bowl is filled with whirled peas. Too much gas…
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Patrick,
I went to the link, and was unable to read most of the comments. I think that I stopped on about page 164 (starting at the last page).
They are scary, partly because the writers are so non-discerning. It’s not what the child is doing. At home or even in the social hall, with a fake microphone, it would be cute. BUT because they think that God is speaking through the baby. (and even putting doubters down.)
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Michael, do you have booking information for this kid?
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Also, for those of you following along at home, Godtube = Tangle nowadays. They’re also a social networking site, too.
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frightening.
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BartM, you got it.
http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=9c69d4acc9dd49eaf89f
Go ALL THE WAY BACK To the 167th page of comments and start counting from there how many people are like “OMG THIS BABY HAS THE SPIRIT OF GOD!”
The answer may surprise you!
..
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that babe is no differnt than my preacher’s son at 2 up at the alter …copying daddy .
leave him be and may the preacher switch his tune to a God of love instead of a God of hate or that child will grow up hating all things
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Scott,
I have to agree with you. It is weird. I’m sure it’s not a good thing to encourage. But we know little about this.
austin
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Just plain weird. Maybe at home for a couple laughs, but in the pulpit for applause? Creepy.
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Joe M — “It is frightening that the motions, enthusiasm, gestures and intonations of a “spirit filled†preacher can be so well mimicked by a toddler.”
That is the point isn’t it. It’s so easy to mesmerize a bunch of needy Christians — even a baby can do it….
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Patrick…we need a link…or there still is NO context. This video is FUNNY.
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An Episcopalian kid would have quietly opened the Bible and intoned, “Yea….”
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Scott, actually, as Headless Unicorn Guy pointed out, its the comment thread on GodTube where this video was originally posted that given this video the context that most of us are horrified about.
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It is frightening that the motions, enthusiasm, gestures and intonations of a “spirit filled” preacher can be so well mimicked by a toddler. It says a lot about what turns us on in church. A ten minute sermon on the Cross wouldn’t get much play.
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I would have to agree with Scot. People are reading way to much into this, not knowing the whole context. Personally I thought the baby was adorable.
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scott – yeah but a toddler going all over the place turning all the water into wine would be hysterical 🙂
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Come on people! I love watching my kids mimic me! For the most part I think this is very fun! The way you people are blasting the parents, congregation and pastor is ridiculous. You people can only assume, based on the video, that you know what is happening. You don’t know the hearts of these people, their philosophy of ministry, context that this occurred and you want to burn them at the steak, take the kid away from the parents and declare them to be the worst church in modern history. Even if the preacher does preach like that when did style of preaching become a moral issue? You that would blast these people for being fundamentalist are doing the same thing that you dislike fundamentalist for doing, judging a book by its cover and declaring it sinful b/c you don’t agree with it. At this rate you would have seen a video of Christ pouring some wine at the wedding in Cana, trip over someone’s foot after doing so and call him a stumbling drunk!
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I honestly can’t tell what the church people are thinking in this situation. I mean, at first it looks like people having a good time admiring how cute the little feller is . . . the same way my nephew (when he was about that age) would impersonate Elvis and we got a kick out of it. But, of curse, he is given so much pulpit time that they must be taking this as a serious act of God. That’s sad. It seems like many of us have lost our way when it comes to discerning what is “of God.â€
I reminds me of about three years ago with we had a guest at our church. He is probably a schizophrenic. During out last hymn, he started pacing in the back and singing louder and louder. Then he walked down the isle screaming (in a very angry voice with clinched fists) Praise GOD-DA! I saw about 1/3 of our church start to clap and cheer as if revival had finally come.
Then he got to the pulpit and continued to scream Praise GOD-DA!!! The cheers continued. Then, in a seamless way, continued screaming F*** God, you bunch of F***ing bastards!! The transformation on the faces of those cheering was incredible. The man they thought was a prophet . . . they now thought (in the flash of a second) was demon possessed . . . especially when he next slugged the pastor and several of us men had to tackle him.
But . . . he was mentally sick, which didn’t seem to register in their paradigm of thinking.
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“the strollers will wait!”
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I won’t agree with that assessment, unless I see baby Cliff Barrows and George Beverly Shea 🙂
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Michael,
Is it just coincidence that the number of dashes in “Better than (____________)Already” perfectly fit the name “Billy Graham”?
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Finally a fundamentalist preacher I can relate to!
Now I know — all along it was the words that got in the way.
Amen, baby brother!! 🙂
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At 1:21 does someone say something about an offering?
Disgusting…
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Okay, I have no idea what I’m supposed to be watching here.
To me, this is a toddler doing what I’ve seen loads of toddlers doing; babbling and play-acting and running around the sanctuary.
I’m guessing by the comments on here that this is meant to be taken as glossolalia?
To which I go: and you think *we’re* weird, with our apparitions?
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Probably one of the most grotesque and bizarre “Christian†acts I ever hope to see. It is exploitation and child abuse, and gives no glory to God. — Dan Crawford
Dan, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. This should link to a subtitled YouTube video about a Latin American “Child Evangelist” titled “Crazy Preacher Kid”. The subject du jour has been knocked down and dragged out on this blog and the delivery will remind Richard of his experience above.
What possesses people to DO this to a kid? Like a Christianese version of Jon Benet Ramsey? How messed up will this kid be when he grows up? How much of just being a kid will he have missed?
Oh, and Richard? Marjoe Gortner (now an actor) admits he was never a Christian at all, he was just putting on the act that was expected of him as an Anointed Child Evangelist. He also says (in some interview, from memory) that this sort of preaching spectacle is the only form of entertainment/performance these types of Christian are allowed to have, so they put all their following into it as the only theater they’ve got. Whether it’s Marjoe (or his Latin American clone) screaming Hellfire-and-Damnation or Benny Hinn “Letting the Bodies Hit the Floor” or Tatted Todd helping the bodies hit the floor with a swift kick to the nuts — “Sheeka-Boom-Bah! BAM!”
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Oh no, you mean people might actually exploit children in a church setting for entertainment value? Say it ain’t so Michael.
WE of course like to keep the display of our children within proper boundaries:
– Such as kindergarteners that don’t understand the concept of salvation singing memorized songs.
– Or little children dressed up to look like Mary, Joseph, shepherds, angels, and wise men.
Yep, we like to keep things proper and reverent around here.
You know, usually an infant is forced to proclaim the message of Barney’s love and Teletubbie joy from the back of the sanctuary while squirming in their mother’s lap. What a refreshing thing to see this one given the floor. Now if I can just translate what he means by “ahm gah, ahm gah”.
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Probably one of the most grotesque and bizarre “Christian” acts I ever hope to see. It is exploitation and child abuse, and gives no glory to God. The parents are guilty of a crime, but I have no doubt the collection coffers were overflowing after the performance.
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I thought we were supposed to fill in the blank. I’ll go with Todd Bentley.
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Didn’t watch the video. Didn’t have to thanks to the 41 responses. It occurs to me that if children can imitate so well – and this is the result from hanging around “Christians” – then we are “hooped” to a whole breathtakingly new level.
Please, does somebody have a video of a three-year-old acting like St. Francis?
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I can’t tell you how this disturbs me. When I was a child, I went to a revival meeting at the Union Gospel Rescue Mission in Charleston West Virginia. (around 1950-51.)They had the largest auditorium in town and all the traveling evangelists would stop there. It was headed up by the wonderful Pat. B. Withrow. You can read about him online. My father worked in the mission thrift store. They also housed an orphanage onsite, so it was big place.
Anywhoooo…the revival meeting on this occasion was one held by a child evangelist. I’ll never forget the one service I went to. Almost scared the hell out of me…but not quite…
Right in the middle of this kid’s sermon he came down into the audience. I was in the front row with all the other kids. He came straight for me and shook is scrawny little finger in my face, hair flying, and shouted at the top of his lungs, “You’re going to hell if you don’t accept Jesus right now. You may walk out that door tonight and be hit by a car and go straight to hell if you don’t receive Jesus.”
I didn’t and I didn’t and I’m not in hell.
That young man’s name..you’ve heard it before. Marjoe Gortner. Yes..the one of the Marjoe movie fame, Earthquake and infamous exploits. A poor sexually abused and used kid. You can read about it at http://search.live.com/images/results.aspx?q=Marjoe+Gortner&mkt=en-us&FORM=H9RE3#focal=3774f5bf39fd62d09d45b7e1f301121b&furl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.slantmagazine.com%2fimages%2ffilm%2fmarjoe.jpg.
So yes…this little boy needs rescue. It’s child abuse as far as I’m concerned. Not to speak of exploitation.
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Remember this video when it surfaced on a blog a year or two ago. Here’s what I remember commenting:
Kid comes up, rants into the mike obviously was imitating the local preacher which he’d probably just seen/heard. A lot of the applause is probably women squeeing over the “cuteness” of it all.
Kind of disturbed by the kid’s “preaching style”, loud and intense, reminscent of an Elmer Gantry-style fire & brimstone rant. If that’s the kind of preaching he grows up with, what’s going to happen with him later on?
The original source of this video was not YouTube, but one of its Christian (TM) knockoffs — GodTube, maybe. The comments there were what was disturbing; about half claimed the kid was Led by The Holy Spirit, some to the point The Holy Spirit was the one REALLY speaking. (How this differed from a Loa of Voudun mounting and riding his “horse” was not addressed.)
Conclusion: This was a candidate for one of those “America’s Dumbest Home Video” shows, but a lot of people were reading WAY too much into it.
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The video grieves me as I see it does most of you. However, there seems to be a lot of judging of the Pentecostal or charismatic people in the comments.
As someone who believes that I Corinthians 13-14 is for today, I’d like to share with you that there is a great number of Pentecostal and/or Charismatic people who would also be very disturbed at this video.
It is tremendously sad that there are large groups of people that would interpret this as a sign from God. But please do not assume that includes the majority of those who believe the spiritual gifts are for today and that most Pentecostals or charismatic are not students of the word of God.
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That kind of thing just embarrasses me.
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The kid is imitating what he sees week in and week out as babies will — monkey see, monkey do; it’s the adults who need to get over themselves. My son used to drag my potato bin out to the middle of the kitchen floor, lay his toddler Bible or a Noah’s Ark storybook on it, and “preach,” just like he saw our pastor do. And like the adults in the video, our pastor at the time determined that meant my 2-year-old son was going to be his “Timothy” and got quite upset whenever my husband attempted to get our son to sing, or if anyone else suggested he had a talent toward anything other than preaching. Everyone in the above congregation seems to be trying to make something out of nothing. Sounds like a “Seinfeld” episode.
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What’s the problem? This is about the same level of preaching that you find at your average evangelical church…
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I wonder if they have another toddler interpreting for him?
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For those of you that never attended a “cutting edge church” (not my words but theirs) this type of thing is much more common than you’d think. Never saw a kid this young being prompted by a pastor (and if you notice there was some) but I’ve seen many a young teenager having a pastor walking behind him and “helping him move into his gift”. Most of those kids are now very confused and in poor lifestyles.
The “Amens” in the crowd are serious. They think they are seeing the “power of God” on this kid. And that, sadly, will be the talk of the day instead of anything about Christ’s work for us sinners.
I half expected to see that it was one of my old “pastors” up there with the kid and was surprised when the camera finally should his face that it wasn’t someone I knew.
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That was pretty funny. The kid sure could handle a microphone.
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My first thought was a KKK rally. Then I thought, this is a church probably a pentecostal one at that. What a sad thing to see. Then I wonder why pentecostals lack discernment of spirits and how they tend to look down on those who are a bit more quieter.
Let me run to a calmer church and get on my Knees and hear from God.
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Reminds me of Marjoe Gortner. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjoe_Gortner
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WTF?!
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A small version of “Jesus Camp”?
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wow. scary.
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That about sums up the Prosperity Gospelâ„¢.
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I can’t understand what the baby is saying. Can someone tell me? Not that it really matters, I guess.
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“For all we know, it was all being done in fun —”
That kid looks like he’s been so trained it’s disturbing. If it weren’t for the way he easily hands over the mike after the man tells him something like “just one more…”, you could almost think it was just a spontaneous occurrence. I got my doubts…
Oy.
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Kenny: I tried hard to reserve judgment and think of the context, but as I said, I “grew up” spiritually in the Charismatic realm. There were no giggles of delight in a small child’s antics to be heard–if it was just in fun, the whole congregation was in on making it appear that they thought he was seriously preaching.
Don’t get me wrong, the Charismatic church did a lot of good for me: it taught me about grace and mercy, among other things, and I’m glad of my time there. All I’m saying is that if I walked into my old church (I’m Anglican now) and saw that scene, it wouldn’t surprise me…
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Reminds me of the preacher at the church I used to go to!
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I agree with Kenny. Lighten up! At least he’s not trying to imitate the “Renewed Mind” dance.
It could be worse – my pastor’s baby’s earliest attempts at syllables sounded just like the F-bomb. It was easy for his mouth to form those consonants, so he’d bark it out at random moments… to great, though accidental, effect.
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Perhaps he is actually speaking in tongues.
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I think you guys are overreacting. As far as I can tell, we don’t know the context of this at all. For all we know, it was all being done in fun — which is actually what I assumed until I read some of the comments here.
The only thing that disturbs me is that he is likely imitating what he’s seen, and that style of preaching is definitely something that rubs me the wrong way.
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This baby ‘as got TBN written all over it – $$$$
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Freaking bunch of loons!!! I find it repulsive!!!
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I can’t say what’s on my mind. Good Christian company would prohibit it. God have mercy on that child.
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If I can’t say anything non-snarky, I won’t say anything at all … **shudder** …
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I agree – the kid is imitating…
Though as one who believes in a rather strict (as in narrow) interpretation of the gift of tongues, I did have to wonder whether they thought that the child was – just because to me thats what most pentacostal speaking in tongues seems like to me as one who didn’t grow up in that tradition….
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I agree with David. This kid is just doing what he has learned from example. Frankly, this might be the best gospel message they have heard in a long time(that might be a little over the snark line).
Supposedly, when I was about two, I would stand behind the piano bench at home with a Bible open in front of me and bang my hand down while saying, “de Bible say!” over and over. Maybe they should have put me in the pulpit back then.
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Tim and #Debi,
This could be a Baptist church for all we know, and the kid is imitating a “anointed” Baptist preacher.
Don’t confuse an 18 month old babbling with speaking in tongues.
I would like to add that this is why I don’t like preachers who shout and go into histrionics. Give me a preacher who speaks like he is carrying on a conversation any day.
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This reminds me of slapping a lot of make-up on a 3-year-old girl and putting her in a “beauty contest”. Something we do for our own warped ego.
I can’t make heads or tails or it, actually.
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David has it exactly right. This child has seen the adults in his life do this from get-go, and is simply mimicking. Unfortunately, the adults who are clapping and amening likely think that the child is delivering a message in tongues. I have to wonder if there was anyone there to give an “interpretation”. There are churches I know of (and used to attend) where such behavior would not be unexpected…
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Baby talking in tongues?
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Not sure if this kid has been watching too much preaching… or to much WWF?
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There are no words…from me or the toddler
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That video disturbs me on a variety of levels.
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Do they realize the baby is just mimicking what he sees up on the pulpit? It is so obvious based on his behavior, how he will walk away with the smirk on his face and the skip in his step. He is loving the attention. It’s what every baby does. Babies figure out a certain behavior that will evoke the most affirmation and then milks it for all it’s worth.
Where is the discernment?
I can not even find humor in this video, it simply breaks my heart.
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Well…. um…. okay…. Can’t come up with words at the moment. Fascinating to say the least, most…. alrighty…. well….
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creepy
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Could be a diaper issue. I know it is with some preachers.
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So young, so angry.
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I’m really fascinated that some people are applauding and amening.
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