Picture this: You're seated in a pew, a hushed congregation around you, and the pastor's sermon is weaving a spiritual web. A familiar scenario for many, isn't it? But did you ever stop to wonder why we do it? Why do we go to church? My brother Steve and I scratched beneath the surface of this life-long habit in our latest episode. We dove into the varied reasons that pull people to church, from guilt, job opportunities, to familial obligations and more. We also pulled back the curtain on the darker aspects of the church, such as the infamous Al Capone finding solace within its walls, or the heartbreaking incidents of abuse and shootings.
Churches and their leaders walk a fine line between spiritual guidance and financial gain. Are your eyebrows raised? So were ours. We took a hard look at the rich side of the church, zeroing in on the substantial salaries of high-profile pastors like Joel Olstein, Kenneth Copeland, Pat Robertson, Benny Hinn, and Joyce Meyer. We questioned whether such opulence helps or hinders the faithful, and provoked thoughts about the role of church as the only way to a righteous life.
Our personal stories lend an intimate touch to this enlightening discussion, as we shared our journey through grief and the solace that church sermons can bring during challenging times. Regardless of your church-going habits, this episode promises to deliver fresh insights into the role of church in our lives and the multitude of paths available towards becoming a better person. From skeptics to devout believers, we invite you to join this thought-provoking conversation. You might just find yourself seeing church – and maybe life – through a brand new lens.
Picture this: You're seated in a pew, a hushed congregation around you, and the pastor's sermon is weaving a spiritual web. A familiar scenario for many, isn't it? But did you ever stop to wonder why we do it? Why do we go to church? My brother Steve and I scratched beneath the surface of this life-long habit in our latest episode. We dove into the varied reasons that pull people to church, from guilt, job opportunities, to familial obligations and more. We also pulled back the curtain on the darker aspects of the church, such as the infamous Al Capone finding solace within its walls, or the heartbreaking incidents of abuse and shootings.
Churches and their leaders walk a fine line between spiritual guidance and financial gain. Are your eyebrows raised? So were ours. We took a hard look at the rich side of the church, zeroing in on the substantial salaries of high-profile pastors like Joel Olstein, Kenneth Copeland, Pat Robertson, Benny Hinn, and Joyce Meyer. We questioned whether such opulence helps or hinders the faithful, and provoked thoughts about the role of church as the only way to a righteous life.
Our personal stories lend an intimate touch to this enlightening discussion, as we shared our journey through grief and the solace that church sermons can bring during challenging times. Regardless of your church-going habits, this episode promises to deliver fresh insights into the role of church in our lives and the multitude of paths available towards becoming a better person. From skeptics to devout believers, we invite you to join this thought-provoking conversation. You might just find yourself seeing church – and maybe life – through a brand new lens.
Alright, we are back one more time. This is Little Brother, steve, and this is Big Brother.
Speaker 2:Mike, and we are just being brothers. That's what we always do coming to you on our podcast. The temperatures have been really hot across the country, man, and I'm sure, no matter when you listen to this, you're going to remember. Just yeah, I remember that time. If you listen to it in December, you remember. I remember that summer of 23. The hottest summer, steve, in the world, because sometimes there's a certain part of the world all over the world.
Speaker 1:All over the world.
Speaker 2:And the thing is water. The beach water is like bath water.
Speaker 1:You want to hear my theory on this? I have a. You know I'm great with these theories. Steve's always got the theory Go ahead, bro. That balloon that China floated over not only our country, but it went through a couple other countries. That's the reason we're having all these weather things. Okay, laugh, it's going to come out in, probably 20, 60, 20,. You know, they're going to find out the dead balloon that was floating across all these foreign countries. We're all having weather problems and they're experimenting with Chesty, and that's why China's mad, because it didn't go far enough across the United States before we shut it down.
Speaker 2:Think about it, well. Well, here's the thing. Even a year ago, I would say, my young brother, my little brother, out of his head, come on man. But what we've seen nationally and internationally and what we know is capable, when we have AI, things where people can actually look and sound like somebody that they're not, it's still far-fetched. Let me just say that, bro. It's still far-fetched, but not as far-fetched.
Speaker 1:That global thing that they shot down is the reason why I'm having all this crazy weather, and that's all I'm going to say about it.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay, how are you doing? I lost a very close person. Anybody who's lost somebody close knows what I'm talking about, and so I'm struggling to get through it. Bro, I really am. It's one of those things. But other than that, I'm good.
Speaker 2:I'm just going through some grief, and what I did was I listened to one of our old podcasts called Grief in Morning. Remember that one we had? Yes, if you guys haven't heard that and you're going through something, please listen to that one. And it gave me a little bit of guidance about how we grieve, how people grieve differently and more and differently. But other than that, I'm here. We had some technical difficulties that you and I figured out on our own for the most part, which is contingently what we did when we were kids. We figured out stuff together, so we were on that. But, man, I'm good.
Speaker 2:And the thing about losing somebody people have. Everybody all of a sudden becomes a grief counselor, you know, and they have all the cliches oh, he's in a better place, oh, the pain has ended, you must go on, you have your life to live, blah, blah, blah. Okay, I got to get all that. And then there's one. Well, the next time you're in church. Just remember that. You know, the truth is all about other people out there. I'm just not a church guy. Okay, I'm definitely a Christian. I believe in God. God has done a lot of good things for me and my family, but the church thing I don't know if that makes me a better human being or not. Stevie, we're going to talk about it, but before we do, what do you think, stevie? What do you think about it?
Speaker 1:Well, I went to so much church when I was a youngster that I swore that when I got older that I had went to enough church to last me a lifetime. So I didn't think I needed to go. So I stopped going for a minute and then I guess my conscience was guilty and I started going back. Oh, really, yeah, but like because the church that I go to has changed so much, I had to find a church, yep, and then I had to see if it fit into my schedule. Yeah, we did not, okay. And then when I found a church to fit into my schedule, I would go, like maybe once a week I would go.
Speaker 1:But then that faded yeah, four times a month, yeah, wow. And then that faded when I got a new job, because that no longer fit my schedule. It was amazing because I went to church and I asked the guy if I could give me a new job and he got me one. The job he got me didn't allow me to go to church. So hey, you know what it is, what it is right.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, you say that but a lot of people don't. A lot of people pay a lot of stock on going to church. I'm meeting an old dude on the dates it's embarrassing but true and some of them say you must be a church girl, you must go to church. I'm like swipe left past because I don't think church is that important, I think. But you can point to a lot of people who went to church. Al Capone went to church. Al Capone was a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Church.
Speaker 1:Because he was trying to dominate and run the church.
Speaker 2:I don't know about all that, but I do know he's a killer, okay, and he was going to church, and you know what happens when the pastor jumps up and shoots his whole congregation up. Did that happen? Oh yeah, how about the pastor that goes home and beats his wife? Oh, okay, so yeah, the whole church thing. But let's talk about I got a little list here of why. 10 reasons Okay, we're trying to call them up now why people go to church and your boy doesn't have his right glasses. Bear with me and Steve, you can read.
Speaker 2:I can read them for you Read that and then you see what that number one guy had. Number one to become closer to God 81%, 81% people said you know, that's why they go. I don't know what that is. What is closer to God, Steve? What is that? What does that look?
Speaker 1:like. Well, in my definition, I want to be like at the dinner table with God as dinner. They're like I'm at that table, so I'm closer to God than the people aren't invited to that table.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:I make sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's almost an attitude about about it that yeah, I, I want to be. Some people say, if there is, I'm not sure there is a God. I believe there is. I don't know it, no one knows it, but if there is, I want to be 81% people, so I want to be.
Speaker 1:Imagine you imagine sitting down having dinner with God, with all the people that are closer to God, or in having never dinner with God. You want to be at that table. There's another table over there. You're not at that table. You want to be at the table with they were. God is sitting there. So when he passed the wine bottle down, you know the bottle that never runs empty. You'll be able to fill your glass. What else is God?
Speaker 2:having, though, fish? Okay, yeah, that makes sense, that makes a bread. Jesus was a fisherman. Yeah, yeah, okay. So we know a lot of fish, fishing low card and white. Number two, steve, I can be visible, so their children will have a moral foundation.
Speaker 1:That's why we went to church, yeah, yeah, and that's a big, and I think that's missing At 31% because that's 69%. So I think that 31% of the problems of the kids that are and the educational system.
Speaker 2:And and you and you would know, having haven't done that a job, that I don't think I could done. As long, steve, it's been teaching young people, so that's number two. Basically to give kids and I get that. We went to church and About after Jeff left, that it my son's Jeff, after our son left, and take my oldest son's like you choose now what you want to do with this. You've been exposed to it since late 12, 13, 14, 15, been little junior. Ush, you're all those things you choose.
Speaker 1:The other reason Number three to become a better person 68%.
Speaker 2:Okay, once again there's some people in church. They probably need to stay there if that's what happens, cuz they're no it better.
Speaker 1:Number four number four for comfort in times of trouble or sorrow, I can dig that I can dig that I mean where I am right now I I.
Speaker 2:You know I can see myself, if not going to church, certainly needing this, feel I can get that from church speeding on through here. They find comfort in the sermon. Okay, I've gone to some churches from greats 59% okay. So it's a way more, way more than half People still feel comfort with the sermon and that's good to be part of a community. Okay is the other reason.
Speaker 1:I think that's seven percent, seven percent.
Speaker 2:Okay, continue their families religious traditions. Do we have religious tradition, brother?
Speaker 1:We have Christmas traditions which are usually based around our faith, so what does that count?
Speaker 2:That's about. I would say so. We always used to go to church on Christmas and then Easter traditions, true that was another time we went to church.
Speaker 1:Those are the two main ones. That keeps the traditions flowing and some religion ours.
Speaker 2:Ours was skeletal. Yeah, some people in church, you know, they got Sunday school, they got choir, they got deacons boy. Yeah, bible study, I was study ever that. We've never been like that, you know, and somehow we managed to be good citizens. Okay, couple more because we want to go to, why people don't as well. So a couple of more reasons why people do go to church, and I mean the reason they give her valid, they feel obligated to go. Oh, obligated to go.
Speaker 1:31% people feel they're obligated to go to church.
Speaker 2:Okay, so that's good, because only 69 of the people who do go feel that they feel obligated. I don't know what that obligation is, who you're obligated to, to God.
Speaker 1:Constituted, obligated to go. I think they, I think, let me think, I'm gonna say this, I'm just gonna say this Because Tom, dick and Harry are going, I Need to go because of not, they're gonna think such and such about me, so I'm obligated to go, so they don't think such and such about me.
Speaker 2:Well, see now, you, you play right into the last two. Okay, okay, you, that's exactly what they pray, and I this is what sort of turns me off sometimes church wise, and that's to meet new people to socialize with 19% of the people do that 19, so I'm better know.
Speaker 2:85, 81 of people at least said they didn't say that they did that Right. But church is a social place. You're watching what people have on, we're watching who so, so who so, and so the widow, the local widow, is not a new boyfriend, she's bringing them in church and such. You find out whose kids are bad. He was pregnant, he's not pregnant, etc. And then the last is the free, like we said, to please your family, spouse or partner. Okay, you want me to go to church, I'll go to church.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because I'm gonna say that the majority of weddings are performed in a church and that's because your parents, primarily the mother of the of the bride, who wants a church wedding for her daughter. So that's only 60%.
Speaker 2:Yeah a lot, yeah, and weddings anyway. Weddings are not about the bride and groom is by everybody else, okay, but everybody else in the people should put more content on the, on the actual marriage. Now there's reason here why people don't go to church, steve, you know, if you look at that, and I was why people don't, and this is my number one, they practice their faith in other ways.
Speaker 2:Hmm, they practice their faith in other ways. Hmm, being generous, bedside Baptist, okay, oh, baptist or baptized bad with bedside bedside Baptist, okay, and Reverend right Reverend sheets, presiding right Reverend sheets, in other words, a in a bed, okay, but I, but they all, you know, you can be that, not go to church, but you could donate, yeah, you can work in your community.
Speaker 1:by the way, less 37% of the people okay, so most and there's a bigger breakdown.
Speaker 2:Okay, the other one was like 81%, but this is 37 of people say that they still in other ways. That's me. Here's a great straight. And to 26% of the people were asked by they don't go to church, said they're not believers, we're just gift one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, number two, they are not believers. Oh that's number two. Yeah, 28% you get no right in front of no. No, no, you said three when you read two.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, okay, I'm getting all right in front of him. Yeah, okay, that's how good, all right. So then go ahead and do number three no reason is very important, okay. No reason, no reason. Okay, just huh, same reason. I don't go through like you know, horrid car races, no reason. I mean, it's not good, it's not bad Number four can be crucial.
Speaker 1:They haven't found a house of worship they like 23%.
Speaker 2:And if you're going to just go to church every now and then, like I do, you probably don't need that. But if you want to become involved in the church, okay, I can see that. So all right, this is a good reason not to if you don't have one.
Speaker 1:Five. They don't like the sermons 18%, that's true.
Speaker 2:Basically, you don't want to be lectured to yeah, and some if you got, if you're a young person especially, and you've got somebody who's giving you fire and brimstone every week and you're going there, they'll be like I know how I know this is 2003. I'm not sitting still for that.
Speaker 1:Number six okay, they don't feel welcome.
Speaker 2:Well, churches are. Churches are cultural places, mm-hmm Okay, and they reflect the culture. It's not something of the neighborhood or their base, of their congregation. So if you walk in there and everybody is African American, everybody is upper, middle, upper middle class, you're going to church and there's benches parked up. You may not feel comfortable. You may not feel comfortable and it should be a house. That's 14% of the people, by the way. Okay, so it's not that many people that feel that way. The biggest thing is people say, hey, I practically mind the other ways. What's the next?
Speaker 1:one down there, Number seven they don't have the time. 12% of the people.
Speaker 2:To go to church. I guess maybe it's kind of weak, but to actually be involved in church, that takes a lot of time.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, getting up on a Sunday morning when you don't really have to, to go do something that you really don't want to do is an effort. So you know you'd rather stay in bed. It's so easy to stay in bed. That's the way I'm staying, yeah.
Speaker 2:It is easier to stay in bed. Yeah, with rubbing sheets.
Speaker 1:You know my time is. I need to sleep, yeah.
Speaker 2:And that's the thing. They don't have time. Let's just go with them, because I want to get to another one. They have poor health and poor mobility, or there's no houses of worship in their area. I don't know where they live.
Speaker 1:So quick story. So I went to a friend's church. I'll just say Okay, and when you go any of these churches for the first time, it's like you're coming in their butt naked because everybody is looking at you. First time at church, yes, okay, you know, and you can be at the back, you can be down front, you can be in the center. But the thing that got me was the preacher also recognized you because you're nude and he says well, all of the new people are first timers, please stand up. I didn't like that. I don't like that either. I didn't like that, and so I did not stand up. And I was being nudged by my person Stand up. And I refuse to stand up. You guys already know who I am. Why do you need me to stand?
Speaker 2:up Because it's a social place. That's exactly what you said.
Speaker 1:And I socialized afterwards yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I mean it's that same kind of, and I guess it depends on the flavor of the church, but yeah, that's a big standing up.
Speaker 1:Please come in, and then the people have to or come down front. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that's not for everybody. People will sometimes see their worship as private. There are some people who go there hoping to be recognized and they'll stand up and say I'm Mr John Smith and this is my wife, mary Smith, and my children, john Paul, george and Ringo, and we're from the very so-and-so church where John Smith is the very fine pastor. To me it's a little bit pretentious and showy, but I think it's a part of a culture in black, white otherwise that some people deem as really, really important. The thing that made me think about this is the attitude some people who are church goers have towards those of us who have not. And there's, I call those people church snobs.
Speaker 2:Hmm, okay, and I know, when I moved a long time ago, when I moved to Baltimore, which is a highly back then even more African-American community, church is really important and people were very friendly toward me and where you're from and how do you like it here. Then they asked this question so where do you go to church? And my answer is well, I'm not really a church goer, absolutely. After that you hear well, are you looking for a new church home? No, I went to. Again, I'm not really a church goer. For me, steve, a couple of times when I had that kind of a encounter, the conversation turned ice cold once.
Speaker 2:I said I didn't go to church and I just don't understand why that is. People sort of look down there and they're like well, if you don't go to church then you must be the devil, you must be a heathen, you must not be a believer. But the fact is the church is crawling with hypocrites, people who are saying one day saying one thing, steve, okay, and doing something different Drunk on Saturday night up in the choir, okay. On Sunday. I don't think the Lord said that I had to be in one particular place at a particular time 52 times a year to be a good person. I know your thoughts on that, but I'm, like you know, to the. I agree.
Speaker 2:I agree so you don't go to church, okay, well, you know we have a. If you change your mind, you know I'm probably not going to do that. I'm not an anti-church, I do go. Sometimes I wake up in the morning. There's a church not far from us we were raised Catholic church we go. No, no, no, no go, and I'll enjoy it. I'll get the message, but it's not because I'm feel obligated, not because I'm going to continue to do practice.
Speaker 2:You know my faith in other ways and when I said I mean being kind, okay, being generous, okay, being in the moment with people who are going through things and, of course, being a good family guy, etc. So the church thing, I don't know, you know. I don't know how people will respond to this, but I just, you know, I don't think it's that important. But I know a lot of people will push back on that and say that it is you know. So people will say that you know, you're not. I'm better than you. I think I'm going to be closer to God than you because I go to church.
Speaker 2:For me it's just a building there's. Sometimes those churches are led by people who are theologic, you know, have trained at theological centers, and sometimes there are people who just quote unquote, got the calling and built the church. You know 20 people, 50 people, 200 people did a good job of it. And there's also people, like I said, that say one thing and mean another. So I'm not a big church guy. And the other thing that gets me, steve, you hit the pastor, worship Pastor worship.
Speaker 1:I think I may know something about that. What do you know about pastor?
Speaker 2:worship.
Speaker 1:See what's going on with that. So pastor worship is somebody or someone or a group of people or people who just think that their pastor is all of that. He is that person that they want to please the most.
Speaker 2:Absolutely and whose credibility is beyond, is beyond reproach. You don't question the pastor. There are people who will sit down and they'll have a mortgage. They'll lay the mortgage out and they'll say okay, you ready to sign? Well, I got it first. I got to run it by my pastor. Is your pastor a mortgage officer? No, is your pastor working banking? Nope, cpa Nope, got it run it by my pastor.
Speaker 1:Almost everything.
Speaker 2:Which, if you meet some of these pastors, give these guys a huge big head. I don't understand the pastor worship. I understand Jesus, and if you worship God, okay. But you know, when you have a pastor, we had a guy. Let me go back quick. So we had a guy on the radio when I lived in Baltimore and this guy one day was ripping pastors talk show. He was ripping pastors and taking call in.
Speaker 2:And here's where the hypocrisy comes in of these church people. First of all, you know, hey, man, you talk about my pastor, to which the host responds I'm talking about all pastors. Well, you can't talk about my pastor like that, but that's what I'm doing. Guy says, okay, he's a Christian. I don't appreciate that, okay, okay, well, thank you for the God.
Speaker 2:One more thing I know what time you get up, I know where the radio station is, so you keep your head on us wiggle, but then you just call to chastise me about some BS over your pastor. Then you just say you're a Christian, so you're offended. So the way you're gonna take it out is violence. This is a hypocrisy that I see with some of these church people giving other church people a bad name. So if you're a church person now you know I'm happy for you, but some of the things just come to me, I think, come up short and sometimes I think for African-American people or anybody who's oppressed, they put too much hope, I think, in the fact that the church is gonna save them, but in fact the church is not gonna say they're gonna give you ways to save yourself, but the church is not gonna save you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there are some pastors and I hate to be the one to say this that really are a wolf in sheep's clothing. Oh, go ahead. I'm looking here now at a multi-million daughter Thethrine targeting Georgia churches, where these guys were stealing money from churches in seven different states. So there are a lot of Were they churchgoing people. I didn't read the story.
Speaker 2:they don't look like it, okay, so that's not about the church as much as about how people pray up on the church.
Speaker 1:Okay, but well then, there are some. I just was I'm just reading that one in there where the preachers did get busted for a theft. So the reason it brings the mind because I saw this on a news I can't find this guy. This guy spent three or four years making all this money for this church and was a young, good-looking guy. You know he was doing everything that the normal pastors would do, okay, but in the end, you know, he had a four million dollar home in Florida and he had another five million dollar over there and he had six cars over here and he had a yacht over here. Wow. And when they started checking on the money, they're like how was this guy got all this money? Anyway, they found out he was faking it and he was robbing and stealing people's minds.
Speaker 1:So a lot of pastors, we know, you know we don't know where that money goes when they collect that money and it goes, man, and that's for every church out here. When you donate your money into a basket and somebody goes behind closed doors and counting, we don't know if they split in five ways. We don't know if they go into the bank. We don't know if they can go into the safe at the house. You queues him, will? You queues my?
Speaker 2:pastor stealing.
Speaker 1:You queues me, you say my pastor the thief and in the end it comes out that he was Getting a cut. Oh, I looked up the average prices. Average average of salaries for church, for Pastors, go ahead. The average salary was between 49 thousand and eighty one thousand dollars a year. That's what an average pastor would make. Okay, but then they had a another number which said that the bigger churches quote bigger churches Are making anywhere from a hundred and something thousand to one point two million.
Speaker 2:Well, we can, you know, we can just go Joel Olsteen, we can go TD Jakes. We can go Creflo audience of dollar with your great name for a guy who's basically Trying to rip people begging for the, begging for the. Tell me how this helps you get closer to God. 81%. Tell me how begging for you to come up with money for a lear jet for Creflo dollar Okay, help me out, cuz maybe I know I'm knowing like there's always a sharpest pencil in the box. So tell me how that getting on and begging your Congregation for money so you can have a jet, that's the hypocrisy to me. That's the total hypocrisy to me. And all these guys live in large Frederick. Frederick K I don't know Frederick K K Price. We can go on a lady who I love, joyce, joyce to the coming to me in a minute. All those people making big money.
Speaker 1:So in Texas the average pastor makes between sixty, eight thousand to a hundred and thirty thousand dollars per year. Nice money.
Speaker 2:Alright, let me check. That's the average folks that me. There's somebody making 200, maybe somebody only making 40. Yeah, okay so You're making 40 and you live in the little town of a thousand people and you're the only church. You big in that town. Yeah, you big in that town. Then Looking at pastor salaries for yeah, steve's on the. She was on the computer. I didn't have all these statistics, but I'm glad you brought those up because some average pastor salary in America 69 thousand to 130 thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 2:Well, so the money and you know, if those people are out there really doing the do and there's some people that are that's not Maybe make it real good. Just because I'm not in the church doesn't mean that the church doesn't have good and doesn't do good things. But there's a saying that religion can be, the church can be the law in them of many societies. It puts people to sleep. It loves people to plead the tithing. Okay, so I already got like two Mercedes parked outside of the church and he wants to remind you that 10%. You only making 30,000 with my 3000. Yeah, tie, and people continue to tie it. They're very serious about their tithing. I was never when I went to church, I was never a tither. I thought we figured you got enough money. Why do you want 10% of somebody who's small? Okay, they also get paid to speak. It's some of that to me is a hustle. That's why I'd rather just talk to God in my state, hi richest pastors in America.
Speaker 1:Number one, of course, is Joel Olstein. Okay, kenneth Copeland. 700 is net worth of 760 million dollars.
Speaker 2:Wow, one of me souls he saved for that good, I see what's in there, did he say, for that 160 million souls? I doubt it.
Speaker 1:Kenneth Copeland 760 million. All right, pat Robertson, oh, the late Pat Roberts, just 100 million. Oh, I fell down. Okay, probably inheritance is. Here's a guy, benny Hinn.
Speaker 2:This the asset money. That's his spadding guy. It's Latino guy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 42 million dollars. He looks.
Speaker 2:I guess that's what he is, yeah you see, you see creflo or TD on that list at all.
Speaker 1:Joe Olstein and he got out crefo dollar network 27 million for 27 million by his own jail.
Speaker 2:Why is he begging for a jet? Because he knows he can get it.
Speaker 1:Billy Graham 25 million. He's passed away. I think. Rick Warren 25 mil.
Speaker 2:TD's not in there interested Joyce Meyer. That's the last joy. Yeah, joyce Meyer eight million dollars. Okay, somebody taught her how to do it. That this their net worth of this, how much this, how much that worth, how much they were okay means.
Speaker 1:They. What did he get their money from?
Speaker 2:It's both, for them is books. It's in addition that I'm preaching. Okay, books, they're speaking, so they have. They have their hustle, but their base is always gonna be. You know, it started out the little guy.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna read this. This is off of the. This is off of Joyce Myers mother for okay, her husbands assets were poorly all paid by the ministry. Interesting 10 million dollar jet, several homes across up to two million dollars each and a hundred and seven thousand dollars silver Mercedes sedan. The ministry's 20 million dollar headquarters is outfitted. This is what got me with five point seven million dollars worth of furniture, including a $23,000 antique marble topped commode Now, okay, see, now I'm getting pissed off.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm gonna get, because how does that make? Let me go back to do other other reasons.
Speaker 1:Let me tell you why you do that. This is her response when somebody asked at her yes. What a response was? She doesn't have to apologize for being blessed.
Speaker 2:You know, I'm really trying to like watch my mouth on this. Okay, that's a joy smile. Okay, and I and remember, if you remember, where Steve right George wasn't up way up at the top of those either, and you heard all that. Why does somebody need to blank me in to sit on the toilet? $23,000 commode. Okay, and I'm trying to figure out how that helps anybody though your churchgoers and looking down people who don't go, how to help somebody that commode help somebody become closer to God.
Speaker 1:Okay because you go to cheer well, the commode is in. There is in her headquarters, in her head. So if it's in the headquarters building, who's really using it? Not the visitors that come in there, and probably not any of the employees are allowed to go in there either.
Speaker 2:We just earn that, sir. Yeah, that's your part of the department, you know. So, once again, I don't know how her doing that's gonna help anybody become a better person, okay, I don't know how it's gonna help them there to have a moral foundation. I don't go know how they find the sermons might be valuable. I've listened to her sermons, okay, but I don't know why people know it that if you're obligated to go, it's just something that I think I'd think is not necessary to live a good, full life. You know, and I'll tell people, my philosophy is three things 10 commandments, okay, 10 commandments.
Speaker 2:I wonder how many people who admire George Meyer can even name those. Yeah, lived the golden rule. Do you want others? Do you want to have the 10? The golden rule? Well, the platinum rule. Two people that they want to be treated. And my last principle that I'll advise, my main one mind your own business. You do that. You don't need to go and get blessed, okay, be charitable, be kind. You don't have to die, but donate. Yeah, the church is collecting for something, donate.
Speaker 1:You know, I had a friend who did a lot of things in his life and in the end he said man, when I get old I'm gonna become a minister or pastor and give me a church. Because he says they don't have to pay taxes, don't pay taxes.
Speaker 2:It is being a minister in my mind and once again, that's why I stay at Bedside Baptist in the band on Sunday is almost with Reverend Cheech, is almost a license to print money. Okay, you have a first. You know, let people know we're gonna be too con. Two collections we can have a general con collection and then we have a special collection for pastor so-and-so in a town you never heard of. We lost his church. Okay, so we wanna collect for him. So you collect $5,000 off of him and he gets $2,000. In the past he gets $3,000 collection fee. To me it's a hustle. Am I anti-God, nevermind atheist, I'm even close. Okay, no, it's Steve. Okay, as far as I know. To why are we saying? Why do we both seem to feel? Have we worries? Two Catholic school kids? I was. Were you an altar boy, steve? Say it again, were you an altar boy? I was an altar boy, that's a story for a different show.
Speaker 1:Okay, no, no, no, I got halfway through. I did halfway through and, believe it or not, I did. I think I did do two or three masks, but I didn't learn the Latin portion that I needed to learn in time and it was over, so I didn't. What are you laughing about? What are you? Laughing at I'm just trying to learn the Latin.
Speaker 2:Oh, I still remember mine man. Okay, I guess, because they drummed it into it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but yeah, so, but still, he made an effort.
Speaker 1:I tried, that's right.
Speaker 2:We're church-based. Okay, Our mom was a convert to Catholicism.
Speaker 1:Okay, so let me, let me, let me intercede here for something for me.
Speaker 1:So and like I said, you know, potato, potato, tomato, tomato, tomato I believe that in this country and probably throughout the world, I'm just gonna go really broad here and say that if you're a good looking and you have a great personality or you come across having a great personality, people will be attracted to that and they will do things that they normally wouldn't do for the person that doesn't have a great personality and they're not so attractive and, as a result, two things and as a result, a lot of these people, or all these pastors, are good looking men, okay looking women Joe's mind's kinda cute, yeah, well, this picture was kinda shabby, okay and they're very cordial and they're very friendly.
Speaker 1:And so when you meet these people, you kinda like you know, I'm gonna compare this to and I could be wrong, pull me back if I am. It'd be like if I met back let me go back in the day Be like if I met Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth was a bigger than life person. Everybody loved him. He did a lot of things. If he wanted to open a church back in the day, he could've opened a church and everybody would've went to it.
Speaker 2:As silly as that sounds, I totally agree. Yeah, because these people, a lot of these people that you're gonna, and that's why you have pastors what drives these people is charisma. Yeah, okay, yeah. So even if you're not a great looking guy, td Jakes, he's got this great charisma the way he speaks, the way he moves. These guys are all dressed to the nine. Nobody nobody's and those guys you mentioned, nobody's mind suits off the rack.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Another thing I wanna throw out here real quick is I think that, covid, a lot of people started bringing their religion to the camera because people couldn't get out, so they started doing preaching from their homes, or maybe they preached from the church, and everybody just stayed home and clicked on the TV and clicked on the channel and started watching and that kind of led to a growth of people who may have been searching for a church. Now they don't have to search, they click on it see this good looking guy and he's spilling out a sermon that they appeal to. And now they just go to it every Sunday morning and they don't have to leave the bed. No, that's the only thing. Or the house, or they can do housework and walk around and listen to the gospel or the sermon at the same time. Which is more convenient?
Speaker 2:yes, and if you don't get it doing church services, say you, because you can't, you can just do it two o'clock in the afternoon, you can listen to it later on in the day. And if you also can go to two or three different services and you can listen to two or three different services, you can go to, okay, reverend Steve today, reverend Mike, later on in the afternoon.
Speaker 1:And then we're gonna listen to Just being Brothers. Yeah, every time, every Sunday.
Speaker 2:Now we can go on, but we wanna get in there to do a couple more. This has been a great session. I mean let me go ahead and we're doing it old school way, playing the music and everything, but I think we gotta hear. It comes right now. So here it is, so we can say goodbye to this one, goodbye everybody. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening what we really want you to do and we can tell you every time we're over a thousand shows and you guys made it happen. Thank you, thank you, thank you very much, and we'll mention that a couple of times on our shows, because once you give me money, everybody to know we appreciate you. Tell your friends, keep listening and, if you have not done it, every site you listen to has a button that says subscribe. Hit that for us, please. We love you and we'll see you next time. Listen, laugh and learn. That's right Bye.