Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 8, 2003)
ppAggieland DeporTik Diploma Framing www.aggieland-depot.com ■^|Culpeppe^Maza^695^H22 WWW.ALLI-ALLS.COM (5e+ in Style forWext Year't Footfrall Saton!! Everything You Need to M«ie Your Very Own Aggie Overalls Design '1'hem & Get Creative MAKES A GREAT AGGIE CHRISTMAS GIFT! OFFICE SERVICE Ron Gordon’s Repair & Recycling Printer, Fax and copier repair and sales. Can repair most brands, parts no trouble. I have over 10 years experience in this area. Lowest rates in town. We also buy empty OEM laser toner cartridges. Please call Ron at 979-779-2757 or 979-229-7203. WESTERN * BEVERAGES HAPPY HOLIDAYS GOLDSCHLAGER Cinnamon Schnapps 750 ml 57* MAKER'S MARK HPNOTIQ Liqueur 750 ml 34’ BACARDI Assorted Flavors WESTERN * BEVERAGES 701 University Dr. East (979) 846-1257 2205 Longmire (979) 764-9577 Major Credit Cards Accepted Hours: Monday - Saturday 10 am to 9 pm Prices (>nod 12/08/03 lo 12/13/03 In awe of printing error, store price prevails IN THE DARK ABOUT WHERE TO SELL YOUR TEXTBOOKS? LOUPOT’S BOOKSTORES WILL GIVE YOU 10% MORE AT BUYBACK NORTHGATE 335 University Drive College Station, TX 77840 SOUTHGATE 308 George Bush Dr. College Station, TC 77840 WOLF PEN PLAZA 1907 Texas Ave. S. College Station, TX 77840 www.loupots.com 8A Monday, December 8, 2003 THE Once shamed, TV ministers now thrivins By Carolyn Tuft & Bill Smith KRT CAMPUS ST. LOUIS — The end of the 1980s was a bad time for TV preachers. One moment, men like the PTL Club’s Jim Bakker and television’s Jimmy Swaggart seemed bigger than life, super men blessed with an uncanny ability to attract followers and money. The next instant, they were only men — fragile, flawed and the butt of barroom jokes and newspaper cartoons. In many ways, it seemed like the beginning of the end for big- time TV religion. Look, the crit ics said: The emperors really do have no clothes. But Americans, at least many of them, seem to have forgotten and forgiven. TV’s salvation shows are still here, bigger and flashier than ever, thanks to the proliferation of the Internet and the continued spread of satellite and cable TV. The names may have changed — Juanita Bynum, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn. T. D. Jakes, Joyce Meyer and a dozen others have replaced Bakker. Swaggart and Oral Roberts at the top of the evan gelical mountain — but the mes sage remains virtually identical. Believe with all your heart and soul, they tell the faithful. And give, give, give until you can’t give any more. God. they say, loves a cheer ful giver. In the late 1980s, when the sex-and-fraud scandals boiled over into America’s living rooms, Joyce Meyer's little radio min istry' was scarcely a blip on the evangelical radar screen. Today, Meyer heads a min istry fast approaching $100 mil lion a year and is among a dozen or so evangelical superstars headlining a revived and very healthy industry. The prosperity gospel also has been called the “name it and claim it” theology. God wants His people to prosper, evangelists like Meyer maintain. Those who fol low God and give generously to Tahnee Jones and her Meyer at the Phillips > his ministries can have anything — and everything — they want. But critics, from Bible-quot- ing theologians to groups devot ed to preserving the separation of church and state, abound. At best, they say, such a theology is a simplistic and misguided way of living. At worst, they say, it is dangerous. Michael Scott Horton, who teaches historical theology at the Westminster Theological Seminary in Escondido, Ca., calls the message a twisted interpreta tion of the Bible — a “wild and wacky theology.’ “Some of these people are charlatans,” Horton said. “Others are honestly dedicated to one of the most abhorrent errors in reli gious theology. “I often think of these folks as the religious equivalent to a com bination of a National Enquirer ad and professional wrestling. It’s part entertainment and very large part scam.” Sociologist William Martin of Rice University said that most people who follow TV religious leaders put so much trust in them that they want them to thrive. Martin is a professor of sociology at the university, specializing in theology. The preachers’ wealth is “con firmation of what they are preaching,” Martin said. Even J. Lee Grady, editor of Charisma & Christian Life maga zine. has become alarmed at what es as the he of s hen another gospel." Bakker ha: in his 1996 book, iWaWrat "The prosperity message: not line up with the lenoroii Scripture." he said. “My la was crushed to think lhail!e:| many people astray." While BalLI < 44 defends the prin ciple that if you are stingy with your money, you will lack things in life, and if you are generous, you will get things in return. “But that doesn’t mean you can treat God That doesn't mean you can treat God like a slot machine. — j. Lee Grady, editor Charisma & Christian Life may l» changed its many more ^ jj preachers sieadfast in iki conviction fe you give m« it many tiiwT return. Meyer sprnij most of three-day raffl ike a slot machine,” Grady said in an inter view. Bakker. who spent five years in prison for defrauding Heritage USA investors, says he has had a change of heart about the pros perity gospel. The same man who once told his PTL. coworkers that “God wants you to be rich,” now says he made a tragic mistake. “For years, I helped propagate enees on lessons in givingj| she is blunt when she add® what the critics say aboutS seed-faith interpretation oft Bible. She says that thosepraliw we p ers who believe that robegw f to be poor are the ones who In it wrong. “Why would He (God) * all of His people povertystniij while all of the people tliata living for God have everytfe Meyer said. “I think ifst gious thinking.” Marine general speaks of new greatest generation By T.A. Badger THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FREDERICKSBURG, Texas Surrounded by a group of veterans who have come to be known as the “greatest genera tion,” the Marines’ top officer praised America’s soldiers in Iraq on Sunday as being made of the same right stuff. “Once again another ‘greatest generation’ has stepped forward,” Gen. Michael Hagee, the commandant of the Marines, said in a ceremony at the National Museum of the Pacific War on the 62nd anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. “They don’t want to die, but they are will ing to,” continued Hagee, who grew up in this small Hill Country city. “That is true honor. You cannot buy that, and we must never ever lose that.” Later Hagee told reporters that he was confident that troop levels in Iraq were ade quate, assuming that the bombings and sniper attacks that have killed dozens of U.S. soldiers since May are not sustained. “If what we are experiencing now is a spike (in anti-American attacks), we’re in good shape,” he said. “But if it’s a new plateau of activity ... we will have to re-eval uate.” Asked how military leaders will know if the spate of attacks is only temporary, the general said he wasn't sure, but he added, “I’m optimistic in their ability to accomplish this mission.” More than 60,0(H) Marines were amo®! the first U.S. troops to be sent to 1 hut currently there are no Marine i ing there. Hagee said about 20.0 will be deployed to that war zone in tk| spring. As usual, dozens of World Warllveteffliil some of them survivors of Japan’s sij prise attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec, 7,1 were sprinkled among the severallitj dred people who turned out for tk| Fredericksburg ceremony. Pearl Harbor must be remembered sotk| l Jnited States forever keeps its militaryn for action, Hagee said. Boosting Sunday’s attendance weren family members of soldiers now on ground in Iraq. Better Ingredients • Better Pizza I LARGE I-TOPPING $C 99 * pu/only 2 LARGE 1-TOPPING $12" " pu/delivery 1 EX-LARGE 2-TOPPING $ I0. 50 pu/delivery 1 LARGE 2-TOPPING & 2 liter drink $1 1 99 | • pu/delivery PICKYOUR SIDE LARGE 2 TOPPING AND 1 SIDE $|2 78 I Mm9 pu/delivery FAMILY SPECIAL I LARGE SPECIALTY I LARGE 2 TOPPING $ I6.” ANY LARGE SPECIALTY $ II. 99 Northgate Post Oak Square Center 601 University Dr. 100 Harvey Rd., Suite D 979-846-3600 979-764-7272 Rock Prairie 1700 Rock Prairie 979-680-0508 Sunday: 1 1 a.nra. - midnight Monday - Wednesday: 11 a.m. - 1 Thursday: *11 a.m. - 2 a.m. Friday & Saturday: 1 *1 a.m. - 3 a. fa bel Spi dre NE yoi Gr for Pe Sei Rec I2;c and plea IF YOU ORDERED a p Aggieland and will not leK 1 campus next fall to piditrf you can have it mailed. Totisv your yearbook for the D3- [ ' ; school year mailed, stop ■' room 015 Reed McDona) Building or telephone 815# JJJT (credit cards only) betweenf- a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monfc through Friday and pay a: mailing and handling fee, Cash, Check, Aggie Buds, Mm Mistiti Discover end American hpmsms :: * NE Cc Pro or oS ColU