Barry Smith

Back in my AOG days, there was one End-Times preacher who was both well-known and well able to draw sizable crowds to his meetings whenever he visited Australia. He was a New Zealand AOG preacher named Barry Smith. Most of us had either read one of Smith's books, watched his video tapes or been to a meeting.

While I never immersed myself in Smith's teachings, though many did, his stuff had enough of an impact on me to warrant a post here. In fact, back around 1991 or 1992 I watched one of his videos which predicted 'the Lord' might return by 1996. Of course Smith was careful to word this prediction right so as not to make it sound like he knew 'the day or hour'. Nevertheless, my friend and I both commented that there was no point living as if this world had long to go. In other words, it effected the way we lived and planned for the future. There is no doubt that his End-Times nonsense instilled some irrational fear in me that had to be later dealt with.

Well everyone has 20/20 vision in hindsight and I now realise that Smith was full of shit. He was, quite simply, a religious conspiracy theorist. I don't believe Smith was a con-man or anything. I think Smith really believed what he preached which makes it worse really as it means he was simply a nutter. One person summed up Barry and one of his last books as 'a hotchpotch and steaming mish-mash of paranoiac confusion'.

I seriously considered buying his books and going through them to see how many of his prophecies fell flat or how much of his material is based on paranoid conspiracy nonsense. I may still do this, but for now I will just post some of the chapter headings of his books and a few comments along the way. That post can be found here.

By the way, Barry Smith is dead. Yes, even he didn't live to see the imminent return of Jesus. "He's coming soon." Not soon enough for Barry it seems.

Farting Preacher

Robert Tilton, Pentecostal Televangelist and con man, has had someone take the piss out of him by making this (and other) videos. This is one of the funniest things I have seen in ages...

YouTube Note: This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Reverend Robert Tilton

My Beloved's Garden

I remember a friend of mine in ministry once confessed to me that his youth pastor wife liked to talk dirty in bed. I was shocked! She what? Wasn't she in full-time ministry?

Well, it seems my friends were not alone in their need to play it up in bed. Yes, the Jesus merchandising industry has finally gone porno! Thank God for the Internet huh? Now all those Christian deviants like my friends can finally get all their kinky shit online from Christian Adult Bookstores.

My Beloved's Garden describes itself as:

Providing a safe, non-pornographic place to shop. For all your Christian Sex
and Romance needs,. While keeping Christ at the center of your marriage.

Now Christians can get Christian books about sex, Christian lingerie, oils and lubes, sex toys and for those disciples of Christ who like it up the ass, anal beads, the anal pleaser and something called the Purple Tush Teaser (shown here). No more having to walk shyly into an Adult Bookstore. You can now get all you desire with not an ounce of guilt.

And no, I swear I am not making any of this up.

The "Left Behind" Video Game

Yes, the infamous Left Behind series of fear mongering books (and soon a movie?) now has a video game. Apparently you get to kill people, but only in self defence. I wonder if you also get to carry out state sanctioned executions? ;P

A moderately progressive Christian takes the piss out of this game on his blog here.