walkawayarchie wrote:
IMO it's a nice hegemonic control system- probably one of the best because it incorporates aspects of the "panopticon" and other means of getting people to "control" themselves (and place the wants of the elites/leaders/powerful before their own NEEDS).
I can't imagine any sane person thinking that it's better for the pastor to have a nice new V-12 Jaguar then it is for their electric bill to get paid or for their kids to be fed...but yet I've heard of people giving their last $50 to the church because they thought "God would bless them" if they did! (Someone I used to know did this. Then she found out the pastor went out and bought a Jaguar...and had the nerve to complain to me like she'd been tricked and I'd advised against it in the first place...then, guess what? She wanted to borrow money!)

Of course, I always think it's kind of odd that every "Deception in the Church" type of book I've ever read goes after freedom of thought or liberal ideas or the social gospel...the only Fundamentalists I've ever seen go after Pentecostalism were Calvinists and/or Heresy Hunters who weren't famous...and they usually have websites, not books in "Christian" bookstores.