About This Video
Shawn McCraney addresses the issue of deceitful promises made by religious leaders, comparing it to the Fyre Festival fraud, where people are misled to expect heavenly rewards or punishments based on misleading teachings. He emphasizes the importance of worshiping God in Spirit and in Truth, warning against following doctrines that promise worldly or spiritual rewards that cannot be delivered.
Shawn emphasizes the importance of giving tithes, time, and talents to the church, suggesting individuals should introspectively evaluate their own beliefs and the "cons" they've accepted without question. He contrasts the oppressive nature of controlling forces, influenced by sin and manipulation, with a God who values liberty and freedom of choice, highlighting the significance of choosing to follow willingly rather than under compulsion.
Shawn's teaching emphasizes that true spiritual freedom is found in the teachings of Christ and is expressed through love, kindness, and understanding, contrasting with the controlling nature of individuals and institutions that dominate and inhibit this liberty. He highlights how oppressive behaviors, such as aggression and manipulation, are contrary to the spirit of liberty that should be written on our hearts and minds, encouraging us to embody the Christian ethic of gentleness and forgiveness instead.
Beware of individuals or institutions that use gifts and controlling behaviors—like manipulation, isolation, and passive aggression—to exert power over others, as these tactics oppose the freedom and love promoted by Christ. Embrace the liberty found in Jesus, rejecting controlling measures and striving to serve one another with love, as highlighted in the teachings of Paul and Peter.
The Illusion of Empty Promises
Live from Salt Lake City, this is HOTM, where we do all we can to worship God in Spirit and in Truth. And I’m Shawn McCraneyFounder of TGNN and developer of the fulfilled perspective—calling people to faith outside of religion., your host. Let’s pray.
Show 9 The Most Sinister Eleven Letter Word in the Entire English language. February 26th 2019
Last week I promoted the three ministries I think are really doing Godly-Good in sharing the Good News in the most important ways: Exmormonfiles.com, Talkingtomormons.org, and Checkmychurch.org. Tonight, let’s take a look at a spot from Checkmychurch.org – it’s fantastic.
(RUN SPOT HERE)
Additionally, those of you who are interested in the new tranversion of the Apostolic Record which is underway as we speak, we promised our supporters T-Shirts and they are in.
SHOW T-SHIRT
We have mailed out the ones to our supporters last week so be looking for them. And thank YOU all so much for assisting us in this herculean, never seen or done before, has legs and will be sustainable effort.
Questioning Spiritual Victory
GOT a question from Danny on last weeks show: it reads
How can Christ have had the total victory if, as you believe, the resurrection is totally spiritual thereby reducing his victory purely virtual? See if this is true, then this world never ends and as long as man exists on earth and in the flesh then the reality is sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace. will always exist.
This is a really good question – because Danny supposes correctly.
EXPLAIN
The Fyre Festival Fraud
I don’t want to be a spoiler of film so if you haven’t watched, Fyre Festival on Netflix and want to, turn the volume down until you see me waving my hands. Got it? We’ll some of you are aware of the Fyre Festival Fraud that went on in the Bahamas. It was organized by this charming toothy guy and promised the world to the people who attended – sort of like a Bahamian Woodstock but for the rich. They lured the young rich millennial trust-funders with pictures of top models frolicking in the sea, phony illustrations of villas, and promises of the most radical experience to ever happen on earth.
And they were raking in dough from all over the world from people believing in the promises, who bought into the hype, and expected, having paid thousands of dollars, to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in luxurious returns – Private planes. Flesh. Top Accommodations. But remember, the organizer was a fraud. He painted a picture of promises that he could not deliver.
Instead of villas they were given tents used for recent hurricane survivors. And mattresses that were soaked by a rainstorm the night before. It was total chaos when 1/3 of the guests showed up right on time and instead of registering, and receiving bags of bling the group was told to just go out and find a tent which hot full capacity at nightfall leaving the next 2/3rds of guests without ANYWHERE to stay.
There were no Yachts to speak of. No villas. But the first 1/3 were plied with alcohol to keep them busy until the bomb was dropped – There is no Fyre Festival. Then the scene turned to the Lord of the Flys with every person for themselves. Getting home was a near impossibility for the guests and getting paid for hundreds of hours of labor in the hot sun for hundreds of Bahamians was even harder.
Religious Fraud and Empty Promises
The CON worked in that the people were stripped of their money and their pride (at least for a moment); it didn’t work in that the founder was sent to prison. I couldn’t help but thinking of all the CONS that are going on in the name of religion. Of how many people are believing in promises from the mouths of their trusted leaders – promises of heavenly villas, and rivers of living water – or hell for their enemies and joy for themselves – and of the scene when the reality, the truth, unfolds.
I mean, there are people out there who actually believe, because they have been taught, that God is going to REWARD them for being mean; for throwing fire down on other people’s head because they differ with them; that God loves it when His children attack others for their sin, lives, and/or beliefs. At the same time there are people – like the LDS, and some Muslim factions – that believe they are going to heaven to become Gods, or to get 70 virgins, or will inherit a villa on the clouds for eternity because they went to church every Sunday.
And then along the way, there are millions right now on this earth, who believe their pastors when they tell them that they should be
Main Topic: Control and Liberty
Tithing, should be giving to the church time and talents, should be living this way, believing that way. We watch con games like the Fyre Festival in documentaries and think: Those fools: I would never do that. But we are so afraid to look into our own hearts, and the facts of the faith, and see the con we have bought into in our own lives. Consider it.
Okay . . . there are a lot of words in the English language that are just loaded with meaning. I am talking about words that are pregnant – especially the ones that in describing other human beings or the institutions they create in a single utterance. It’s a Cult. She is a Saint. He is a Dick. Jerk. Ass. Con man. Fraud. Not only are these terms not very nice but they are also words that are subject to some interpretation. I mean, we all have ideas about the general ways of a jerk, but we all tend to toss our special interpretation on the definition of the word when used. Of course, if we add the word “total” as a prefix to the words, “total Saint, total dick, total jerk, and we all draw in a little closer to a universal understanding of the word used and the person to whom it is applied. Cult versus total cult convey two different things, don’t they?
Serial Killers and Their Characterization
Over the years, like many of you and as the result of ten thousand avenues of home media, I have been able to indulge in watching documentaries on serial killers – like the recent one on Ted Bundy. I’ve also read several books on them – (especially when I was younger – perhaps as a means to understand myself). And so I know quite a bit about guys like the BTK killer, Jeffery Dahmer, Ed Kemper, Gary Ridgeway, and Harold Shipman. Along the way, I’ve noticed a consistent thread of terms used from people who knew these killers personally (and not as serial killers, but as colleagues, neighbors, or romantic partners) with one eleven-letter word standing out boldly and repetitively. Remember, these are some of the most heinous (7 letters), most prolific (8 letters), most diabolical (10 letters), and most manipulative (12 letters) killers and serial killers on earth. The word that comes up most to describe them all as individuals?
(Beat)
“Controlling” – eleven letters. Controlling. Now, admittedly, the noun “control” is quite a positive word (in most applications of life). We like it when we and others around us are “in control” versus being “out of control” and we love it when our pilots control our planes, and surgeons control their hands, and drivers control their cars – so control is really a positive word and we pretty much have a good image of people when we say that they are, “in control,” right?
But add an “ing” to that noun, and transforming it into an adjective, that once good word becomes an eleven-letter term of utter evil. In fact, I submit to you that CONTROLLING is the MOST sinister word in the human language. Why? The list is long.
Theological Perspective on Control
I believe in a God who is a God of liberty and one to whom freedom of choice is paramount – so much so that He does NOT interfere and demand His will from His creations. In the Garden, he gave Adam and Eve choice. To say otherwise is incorrect. Because of this initial act I see Him being this way in all things – which is very contrary to Five Point Calvinists and deterministic Atheists. No, my God is a God of choice and liberty, and if we are to be bondservants it is by choice, not compulsion.
Of course, Satan, when he was an earthly operative, and now the power darkness that stands opposite of God, have always been about controlling others: Through sin and all of its by-products including addiction, prison, broken hearts, and destroyed lives. All controlling factors in the lives of those who succumb to it. In time, Satan used the very Law of God to try and control a whole nation of people.
Biblical Reference: Liberty Through Faith
We recall that when Isaiah prophesied of the Messiah he said:
Isaiah 61:1 "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me because the LORD has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;"
Isaiah 42:6-7 says "I have given you as a covenant to the people, a"
The Concept of Liberty
Light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. Light brings liberty of sight, mind and movement to people; darkness limits, and is controlling over sight, mind, and movement. David wrote in Psalms 119:45 “And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.” Paul, in Romans 8:21 speaks of “the glorious liberty of the children of God.” And added at 2nd Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
James says in 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. The perfect law of liberty. And of course, in John 8:31 to the Jews who believed on Him: “If you (not that you must, not that you will, but IF you . . .) continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” But see controlling men and women, and the institutions they create, do all they can to inhibit liberty and freedom. I get this when it comes to certain public expressions like the workforce and laws for public safety.
Controlling Influences
I do NOT get it at all in interpersonal relationships nor with organized religion. Nevertheless in an a world where religion has become a business, controlling environments reign – which are entirely antithetical to the spirit of Liberty which is in Christ. It comes through in a number of sinister ways and usually starts at the macro and slowly moves down into the micro . . .
Methods of Control
Controlling behaviors through subtle cultural demands And then controlling Opinions Then Controlling Beliefs Which ends up controlling specific Words and word choices And the worst of them try to control Thoughts (which means controlling external imput) And then it can come down to controlling every single element of another individual’s life.
Every bit of it is antithetical to the spirit of liberty which is the Spirit of the Lord, who writes His laws on our minds and hearts, where nobody can touch them. While controlling people can be viewed on a pretty wide spectrum, from being a little bossy in certain situations to being an outright demon seeking to totally dominate others (like Dahmer or BTK, the list of pejorative traits that describe the controlling ways of others and institutions are not very flattering.
Most controlling entities or individuals are a gross amalgam of the following They can be AGGRESSIVE. They use threatening movements, words, facial expressions to bring people into compliance with their rules and ways. (But the Christian ethic ought to be gentle, open, inviting).
They are often ALL or NOTHING with us meaning when you are in their good graces they are warm and loving but when you are not they are cold and distant. Both controlling individuals and groups use this method well and if you have ever been subject to it, you know it. Cold, cold, shoulders, warm effulgent embraces – all depending on what they want out of you. (Christian ethic is to strive for consistent warmth in love; forgiving, kind)
They ASSUME things – usually the worse things about situations and about others. And they operate on those assumptions (Christian ethic is to think no evil and/or not quick to think evil) They BLAME – because controllers do not like to be responsible for failures. In religion, the individual is ALWAYS to blame; in controlling people, the other is always somehow at fault OR when they are proven wrong they just ignore it.
They COMPETE – even if you don’t know that there is a competition, and keep score of EVERYTHING. (True Christians rejoice in the successes and victories of other Saints and are not in competition with other churches nor are they keeping a tally of the wrongs and rights done by others.)
They are CRITICAL, condemning in subtle (or if pushed, overt ways). If they are super evil they will demean and degrade others. They DENY that there is a problem. They are tremendous DENIERS. “Oh, no brother Smith, there’s nothing wrong. Not at all.” Right? (Christians address interpersonal issues upfront and without attack, looking for resolution at all costs)
The DOMINATE (obviously) situations, events, lives – overtaking everything in their sight. (Christians will not dominate any more then Christ will dominate) They EXPLOIT others to extract out of them what they want or need. For individuals, they are often GIFT-GIVERS because the with
Obligations of Gifts and Control
The gifts come with obligations, which are maintained and monitored competitively. Interestingly enough, God told Moses: “And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.” Of course, this has a context to it and is not a law, but just understand, not all people who give gifts are controlling (by any means – in fact, some of them are super giving) but all controllers will use gifts to capture. They are big-time GUILTERS – and they use it on people often in the name of Good and God. That is a product of evil. Interestingly enough, they are FACT FINDERS, historians, and attempt to stay on top of all incoming information about a situation or person so as to control them with it. Christians don’t wanna know the dirty deeds of others.
Controlling institutions and the people who run them can be INTERROGATORS – one question after another all as a means to gather facts, trip you up, put you in the hot seat – that is a position of power. The worst controlling souls thrive in realms of ISOLATION – meaning that they will gather teams around them with the purpose of isolating themselves and or their victim. They are JEALOUS of the time and attention of others – because they can’t control when their congregates engage with external influences. They want all of their time and attention. They are grand MANIPULATORS of every situation to meet their needs and wants, taking control of matters that otherwise could and should be shared.
Tactics of Control
They are often extremely MOODY – it keeps everyone off balance not knowing how to respond to them, and therefore they are able to maintain control through uncertainty. When push comes to shove, they will CALL NAMES – vile ugly names – and they will use pejorative terms to label those that they cannot control. They are OVER-EXPLAINERS – in so doing they wear people out making surrender easier. Forty-five minutes to explain something that could be said in two. Controlling people's time and conversations are a major trait of CONTROLLING people. They are PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE – instead of a full-on brawl there is a constant drip of black negativity at work. They use SILENCE – including ignoring, and delivering obtuse responses. They see themselves as the VICTIM in situations even when they are obviously at fault.
When a person or a religious institution appeals to controlling measures they are employing tools of darkness, pure and simple. In my estimation, the darkest tools in existence that smack directly in the face of God who, even in the face of great and tremendous evil, refuses to control us.
Biblical Insights on Liberty
It is of great interest what Paul wrote to the churches of Galatian and Corinth when he said:
In Galatians 2:4 that he warned about . . .
false brethren who secretly came in to privately spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:
And how in 1st Corinthians when he said to those who think that they have the right to judge other believers
“for why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience?”
Of back to the churches at Galatia where he wrote, relative to the Law:
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
And then in Galatians 5:13 “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.”
Servants of Corruption
The Apostle Peter, warning about the con-men of religion, said in 2nd Peter 2:19
“While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption.”
Corrupted hearts, corrupted laws, and corrupted minds bent on personal gain and fame, they all use controlling measures to take captive those who have been liberated by the life and deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God. of Christ.
Now is the time to break free, my friends, from every controlling factor in your lives, and into the arms of Jesus, who as the Good Shepherd, is lowly, gentle, and mild, leading all His sheep in love.
