Prayer and more prayer at EHC in Colorado

[Image from here]

Colorado Springs is a hotbed of super-evangelistic rightwingnuttery. It is the place, after all, where James Dobson and his band of nogoodniks hang out. So, what follows isn't all that surprising.

There is a "ministry" in that benighted city called EHC (Every Home for Christ). This so-called ministry has built a "state-of-the-art prayer center." This prayer center, called the Watchman Training Center, consists of 8,000 square feet of goofiness.

EHC is now "mobilizing 'watchmen' to pray 24/7 for the completion of the Great Commission." Yup. Go into all the world and spray the people with delusions that lead to ego-centric hatred of all ungodliness, and ungodly people - like gays, for example. Or liberals. Or Democrats.

I am not making this up. It's all in an article found at the wingnut site of Charisma magazine; Charisma being a pentecostal, far-right, dominionist, theocratic spewing rag.

Dick Eastman, head honcho of EHC, said, "Our goal is to help encourage and mobilize believers around the world--in every time zone, nation and even provinces within nations [watch out, Canada!] -- to sustain continuous prayer in their areas."

God, god must get tired of all this crap! Unrelenting pleading, crying, weeping, blah, blah, blah. No wonder she turns a deaf ear and refuses to answer. Which is not good strategy for a deity as that just makes all these pray-ers pray harder and longer.

Now, what kind of god would turn a deaf ear? What kind of god would require such a plethora of piety 24/7?

And aren't these pray-ers the same ones who claim their deity is omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient? If that is the case, why would anybody need to pray at all? Doth not the goddess in heaven know what these folks need, and what they want, and what are the real needs of the world?

None of this makes any sense, unless, of course, you happen to run EHC and need to rev people up about something so they keep sending in bundles of buckaroos to keep you living the high life on a mountain in Colorado.


Here's a description of the prayer center: It has a Wall of Prayer two stories high that was designed to look like the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, and was built with 50 tons of Jerusalem stone. God likes Jerusalem stone, you know, much more than she likes Colorado rock, even though she supposedly created the Colorado Rockies!

[What's with all these rightwing kooks who want to be Jews? Well, sort of Jews. Jews who pray to Jesus.]

Anyway, people go up to the Wall, put prayers in the Wall (just like, you know, they do in Jerusalem) and these prayers are collected every once in a while and mailed off to folks in the Holy City who then put 'em in the Wailing Wall. God must like that a lot!

But the prayer center is not just a wall. There's a big old space that can seat 450 people at one time; 13 prayer rooms which EHC calls "grottos," (heh, heh), and these so-called grottos have fancy computers with touch screens so those putzing around in the grottos can play Christian music and bring up "prayer points for each nation."

Well, there's a lot more, which you can read for yourself here.


But...but...scientific studies done most recently indicate quite clearly that intercessory prayer does not work! It fails all tests! There is no god or goddess "up there" answering prayers!

So, a word to Dick Eastman and all his pray-ers: shut up, already!

Don't spend your money on prayer centers with Wailing Walls. Feed the poor, heal the sick, bring comfort to the wounded. The Gospels are quite clear that is what your Jesus most desired and, indeed, doing such things serve as a sign that you love him!

You somehow must have missed that most important teaching of your savior. Which is too bad, because it was so important that, according to the legend, Jesus said those who failed to do those things, which also included visiting people in prison, would be turned away from the heavenly kingdom, and that the father, who is himself, would have nothing to do with charlatans who flail themselves with the whips of prayer 24/7!

You're in deep ca-ca, Eastman!