Way back in September, 2006, my girlfriend and I were flipping through channels sometime after midnight and we came across a televangelical show called “Live Prayer.” We decided to watch for a few minutes, just for fun. The topic was on the evils of gambling, pretty much your standard sanctimonious fare. After only a few minutes, the host, Bill Keller (not to be confused with the New York Times’ Bill Keller!) received a call from a man who started a story with a claim to have won money gambling in, if I recall correctly, Atlantic City. Keller immediately called him a liar and disconnected the call, launching immediately into a tirade against the caller who was now unable to defend himself.
I found this in extreme distaste and more than a little un-Christian-like. So, of course I called in. I called in and I asked him if Christ would have censored that person and called him a liar. I, in turn, was disconnected and referred to as a “Tool of Satan.”
Well, I couldn’t just leave it at that, now could I?
So I sent him the following email:
From: Shawn McBee
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2006 2:09 AM
To: bkeller@liveprayer.com
Subject: In need of help.
Hi Bill,
Your website has a quote that calls you the "Dr. Phil of Prayer."
Having watched your show tonight and called in, I think it is more
accurate to call you the "Bill O'Reilly of prayer." One caller,
claiming to have won money gambling, was summarily dismissed as a
liar, and I was called a "tool of Satan" for questioning the piety of
that action.
A person with a strong faith in the power of the Lord's word would
not be so averse to hearing something he doesn't agree with. The
fact is, people do win money gambling or no one would do it. I have
an acquaintance who won a $17m dollar jackpot at the Florida Lotto,
and if you had let me speak, maybe your message would have been
helped along, as that person did not know how to handle that money
and now, a few years later is back to working at a car wash.
Instead, you chose to shield yourself from dissenting views.
You, sir, are no Christian. I am an Atheist and I adhere to the
words and deeds of Jesus more than you.
-Shawn McBee
I was somewhat surprised the next afternoon to find a response from him in my inbox. But I was shocked at the tone and content of the email:
On Sep 28, 2006, at 4:19 PM, Bill Keller wrote:
LOL!!..first..I was 100% RIGHT..you ARE a tool of satan..all those who deny
God your Creator are satans' tools..pretty amazing I knew who you were
immeidatly..God showed me..as for the other idiot..you don't hear what
happens since we are on a 7 second delay..he was nothing but a typical prank
caller..btw..I you are like your daddy satan.quoting God's Word..the very
Word YOU reject..yet like satan..not knowing how to quote it
properly..LOL!!..run along son..you are out of your league..
Know that I am praying for you, be richly blessed,
Bill Keller
Founder, www.liveprayer.com
That has not been edited at all. Everything from his total lack of formatting to his total lack of tact, grammar and punctuation is exactly as I received it. I particularly liked the stock complimentary close that is in complete opposition to the tone of the rest of the email. His mocking tone shocked and flabbergasted me. I could not imagine that Jesus would taunt and deride any other person in such a manner, let alone say that they are like their “Daddy Satan.” I just had to reply.
From: "Shawn McBee"
To: "Bill Keller" <bkeller@liveprayer.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2006 7:42 PM
Subject: Re: In need of help.
Dear Sir,
Even though I am an Atheist, I try to subscribe to the teachings of Christ, as they preach kindness, love of your fellow man, and tolerance. Jesus would have thought of someone claiming Atheism as a lost lamb, and would try to bring that person into His light. You, who are essentially representing Him on Earth, have bullied, insulted and ridiculed me. These unkind words for someone who could be in desperate need of guidance to accept Jesus into their hearts only serves to push them away. Atheist or no, I know that Jesus would not have wanted that.
I pity you, that you have dedicated your life to a set of ideals that you, yourself, cannot manage to live by.
I hope that you find peace in life, and forgiveness after.
Truly,
Shawn McBee.
Yeah, I laid it on a little thick there, I must admit. The point was to keep above the fray, to maintain my demeanor and grasp of the English language, despite the fact that by now it was abundantly clear that I was dealing with some sort of Man-Child. As you can imagine, he responded.
LOL!!..go sell that pile of dog poop to someone else..spare me...you have no more interest in the TRUTH than an Eskimo does in buying ice cubes..LOL!!..you cna't pick and choose what Jesus said..let me educate you..He also said that thsoe who rejected Him will burn in HELL..how about that one Shawny??..LOL!!!...still like Jesus?..I don't feel sorry for you..you watch me..you have heard the Truth..you choose to reject it..sorry..when you burn in hell..you won't have anyone to blame but yourself..enjoy..
You will be in my prayers, be richly blessed,
Bill Keller
www.liveprayer.com
He called me “Shawny.” Honestly. He clearly thought that this exchange was happening on a school playground. I decided that I would not reply. I was clearly never going to get an intelligent reply, so I dropped it.
I just wanted to illustrate the arrogant, bullying, derisive, mocking tone taken. I wanted people to see what these people (at least this one) are really like.
Anyone have a similar story? Lay ‘em on me!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
What are televangelists really like?
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6 comments:
It truly astounds me. How can anyone follow such a petulant child? Usually, people are more articulate when they are writing than when they speak. If this is what you get from trying to initiate a civil and intelligent discourse via email, I cannot imagine what this man debates like. I can only guess that he didn't come off as imbecilic on his tv show otherwise I doubt you would've put any time into making a call into the show or following it up with an email for that matter.
There's got to be more intelligent evangelical ministers out there. I mean, my impression was that these guys were slick and oily and got their adoring masses via sheer charismatic manipulation. I had an ex-girlfriend that did such a number on me. I finally came away understanding how someone who believes they are reasonably intelligent can be utterly duped by unscrupulous snakes. But this guy is completely ludicrous: He has a $how AND $upporters! If this is the evangelical standard the situation is far worse than I thought.
Well, from what I saw, he doesn't debate. He depends on callers who agree with him to call in and he spouts platitudes at his oh-so-eager-to-hear-his-advice callers, advising them to pray for answers and guidance from "The Lord." It seems his typical tact for callers with the ability to think is to hang up on them so their blasphemous thoughts cannot reach the ears of his pliable viewers and then he does a quick character assassination (IE: Tool of Satan) to discredit any words that were able to reach his viewers ears before his producer could hit the kill-switch.
And, of course, this is the typical Christian methodology. As with any cult, efforts are made to keep the cult-members from hearing from any outside influences that might bring logic into their world. It disgusts me.
"LOL!!!"
I have been following this guy for two years now (two years too long). I know his act from top to bottom. And the guy is just simply hateful. He claims to be a man of God, but as you saw from his letters, he is hateful to anyone who will challenge him. He is a very intolerant man. At least you didn't sink to his level by resorting to the schoolyard name calling he was laying on you. However, he also has retired pastors also take care of his emails, so you may have gotten one of them as well. Birds of a feather flock together.
As a Christian, I've always been disgusted by people like that. I've never seen a televangelist who actually teaches love and charity. I'd say that, out of all the Christians I've ever met, about 5% of them actually did what Jesus said- namely, love your neighbor, give to those who don't have, visit the sick and imprisoned, etc. It's like these people never actually read the Gospels. If they did, they would see that Jesus didn't hang out with the religious crowd, he hung out with people like the ones this jackass televangelist calls 'tools of Satan.'
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