Blogging Bynum
A toothache and sore throat are keeping us up late tonight, so we idly switched over to TBN to see what was going on in the world of wacky word-faith. There’s Juanita Bynum in a white robe, surrounded by men and women dressed all in black. Some interesting notes:
- “You need to send a thousand dollars. If you can’t send a thousand, send five hundred… if all you have is a nickel, wrap it in tissue and put it in an envelope. If all you have is your clothes, send them.”
- “If you want the power, you have to sow the seed [clearly referring to sending her money in context].” (See Acts 8 below.)
- “We’re going together into a spirit of wealth.”
- “Last night, you sowed to your ability. Tonight, you sow beyond your ability.”
- “‘I need [to give] because I need favor. I need it because I need an anointing. I need it because I need power.’” (Her speaking for the people who give to her tonight.)
- “‘I’m giving because I want my daughters to be daughters of Zion.’” (Again speaking for those who are giving to her.)
- “You’ve got three days to get that into your mailbox. I’m not afraid to say this. I am walking in my authority… if you don’t postmark it by the tenth, we will not accept it. [I’d like confirmation of that.] God says you have three days to get your thousand-dollar seed in the mail.”
- “Give it to me and you will live. Give it to me and you will have more than enough.” (She claims to be speaking for the Lord, actually.)
- “If all you have is $79.36, I double-dare you to empty your bank account. Close your account.”
Compare Acts 8:
Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.”
On several occasions she told her audience that they were like the Macedonians in 2 Corinthians 8, because God was going to bless them for giving beyond their means. Of course, nobody ever says whether the money given by these “modern-day Macedonians” is going to help needy people (like Paul’s offerings were in the Epistles, mostly to help needy believers in Jerusalem, and not to further his own ministry), or whether this is just to keep TBN on the air all over the world, and keep Juanita Bynum able to rent out stadiums and buy lots of tallits and bedsheets she can sell for one thousand dollars a pop on television.
Perhaps the worst part was when she had her people spread out enough white tallits (the traditional Jewish garment worn in prayer and study) to cover the entire stage behind her. She announced that she would be walking on them, and sprinkling olive oil on them, and people who gave (the most often suggested amount was one thousand dollars) would receive these (or pieces of these). They were supposed to wear them at all times for twenty-one days; to wrap them around themselves, to put them on their children, to slip them under their mattresses.
I cannot tell you how revolting it was to see that false teacher walk on the symbol of God’s Holy Word, that symbol of our Lord’s authority, with Jan Crouch walking behind her and pouring olive oil on her hands so she could douse the tallits. Then we saw the cameraman, who had to step on the tallits himself so he could follow Juanita and Jan across the stage. It really amazed me, to see her doing in front of the camera what she had been doing for years through her words — walking on God’s Word, treading underfoot the Truth, as if it were dung to her.
Finally the long “prayer” at the end, where Juanita walked or knelt on the stage, babbling at the tallits (“ma ma ma ma sha ba sai ah ma ma ma”). The cameraman still stood in front of her, catching every move of this woman in her co-opted “priestly robes,” with Jan Crouch now bowing in her direction, moving her arms up and down like Wayne and Garth saying “we’re not worthy.” Now she’s wiping her sweat with the tallits she has been walking on, and screaming “Oh God!” over and over.
More notes from the tallit and prayer cloth part:
- “You cannot violate the principle. [To the people coming forward for pieces of the prayer cloths] You have to give. If you don’t have any money then you’d better get a penny in your hand or something.”
- (Refusing to give the pieces of prayer cloths to children) “I can’t give this to kids. It’s too heavy.” (Often Juanita would skip the kids, but they could get them from Jan, who was next in line.)
- “The Lord told me to give you these socks… In your time of prayer, you are to wear them, and you will walk in authority. Be careful what you say, because what you say will come to pass.” (Yes, Juanita gave some woman the socks she was wearing when she walked on the tallits.)
Why can this woman scream until her vocal cords are frayed, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to have class this weekend because of the sore throat? Why do the wicked prosper?
This is not my God. This is not the worship which my God demands of me. This is not repentance and contrition; this is a new sacrificial cult, with TBN as the priests, a television studio as a Temple, and money instead of animals. But never in this hour-plus tirade was there a call to repentance. The call was to give money. No repentance. No study of the Word. No call to obedience. No, that’s what the tallit stands for, and that’s what she was and is walking on.
If you can watch this and not recognize naked greed, and not recognize the veritable reincarnation of Simon Magus in this woman and all her cronies, then you are indeed blind. The Lord can open your eyes, but He doesn’t want your money. He wants your life.
We just noticed a few things about the tallits. They have something like “The Power of Prayer” written on them. (What do they have to do with prayer, as far as Yeshua is concerned? Not a great deal, really.) Also of interest was the fact that some of them didn’t have tzitzit (the long tassels at the corners), which are the only connection between tallits and the Torah (the Torah does not command to wear tallits, it commands that four-cornered garments must have tzitzit). So, she is spreading around a Jewish tradition, while deliberately making some of them violate the Torah she is claiming to teach, by removing the tzitzit. And this honors the Lord… how?
She just told somebody that the tallit was “the greatest thing I could ever give you” (which is probably true, since she does not appear to be qualified to teach the Word).
To a man with the full clerical collar: “I didn’t call you to conservative Christianism, I called you to be a man who walked in deliverance.” To another preacher: “This prayer shawl shall usher you to another level. Your heart will be changed. Divine revelation when you read the scripture shall come into your mind.”
She appeared to cast demons out of at least two people who came forward. Then they pushed them down the assembly line.
You should see the disappointment on people’s faces when Juanita skips them (as far as I can tell, it’s just because there are so many people coming forward). They look shattered, as if the Lord Himself rejected them. The Lord will judge that woman for every heart she breaks in His name.
It’s starting to wrap up. The ministers and so forth in the back are lying around on tallits and sheets — it looks like somebody blew up the mime factory.
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