Other posts related to review
I realize my heathen audience just went “Uhhhhhh???” upon reading that title, but every now and then I like to discuss a Christian topic on my blog, so like it or not it’s par for the course. 
One of my beloved readers recommended that I give the “worship artist” Jason Upton a listen, hoping his music would inspire.
Listening to his music did in fact inspire me with hope: hope that he never releases another album. I keed, I keed…. ok not really.
In all seriousness, I think Upton means well, though I was kinda hoping he would be the real deal, another Keith Green in the making, yet when I started giving a few of his songs a listen, something just seemed… off.
And here we go again. As soon as my spirit gets disturbed about something I know I’m about to step into a pile of fecal matter and start knocking over sacred cows, but then again, it’s what I do, and dude, I do it oh so well. 
On the surface, Upton’s music and lyrics would appear to be alright and God-focused, but quite a few of his songs also seemed vague and cryptic, their meanings hidden in obscurity. I also noted the absence of any overt call to repentance and living a life free of sin, two of the most common themes found not only in Keith Green songs but in most of the Psalms as well. It might not be a big deal, but Upton’s musical words presented a rather incomplete gospel to me. Curiosity compelled me to do some digging into his background, and what I learned (so far) pretty much confirmed my suspicions about him.
Upton’s musical career began with his album “Key of David,” which according to Wikipedia was a series of prophetic worship sessions, over half of which were “spontaneously inspired by the Holy Spirit.”
Right away I knew some Christian dweeb in love with Upton must have written this. How did they know such sessions were inspired by the Holy Spirit to begin with? Did they ask Him? Did they test the spirit as the Bible instructs us to do? Did they compare their experiences to what Scripture teaches to see if it lined up? Or was it all mushy gushy feelings and since we’re all happy shappy dappy here it must be of God? And what makes his worship music prophetic anyway? Are we insinuating that Upton is not only a musician, but a modern day prophet as well? Sigh.
Things just get more bizarre as the same Wiki entry suggests Upton was able to stop a tornado with his music, and that one of his tracks contained the voices of actual angels singing.
Sure, and I’m Mickey Mouse. 
I checked out the lyrics to the song that supposedly had this heavenly choir singing in it:
I declare over you, God has given you the air!
So fly, it’s time to open up your wings,
To shake off the things that hold you down (to leave the things…..)
It’s time to spread out your wings and fly!Do you see what I see?
Do you hear what I hear?
Do you know what I know?
Do you want what I want?
Angel: (“…undiscernible… I want you to fly …undiscernible… Fly….” )Do you see what I see?
Do you hear what I hear?
Do you know what I know?
Fly!
And of course, someone from the audience later claims to have seen one or more of these angels, so we can now accept without reservation that a brigade of angels from heaven just decided to go on tour with Jason Upton.
Really people, can you stop taking everything at face value here? There’s no doubt in my mind that fans have now used this as unequivocal proof that Upton is anointed of God. “Never mind what the Bible says. We heard angels sing! That’s proof enough for us!”
One of the failings of the charismatic crowd today is that they rely too heavily on emotions and experiences for evidence that a movement is of God, rather than on what Scripture teaches. So they never test the spirits, they never scrutinize their experiences according to God’s word, and of course the net result is that they fall away to heresy.
Is there anything overtly heretical about Jason Upton though, other than the fact that he seems to be an ignoramus? It’s hard to say. Reading his website, I noted what a pastor wrote about his first album, Key of David:
The Key of David is mentioned in Revelation 3:7 to refer to the absolute authority of Heaven in Jesus’ hands to open the doors that no one can shut and to close the doors that no one can open. But the Key of David is first mentioned in Isaiah 22:22, where it denotes a fatherly authority, a pivotal place of opening up the riches of the House of David-God’s blessing, God’s presence, and God’s glory-to God’s people. I believe the Lord is going to use worship like this to birth whole generations into His Kingdom in fire.
The Youth in our churches and campuses are going to catch fire quickly and intensely, and they are going to take back for God what the enemy has stolen-they are going to take back the churches, the universities and campuses, and the cities that we, the older generations in the Church, have longed and prayed for in spite of the fact that we have not yet seen the widespread, reclaiming revival fires from heaven that we have prayed and wept for.
Again with this fire thing. Fires and revivals, they’re all the new rage these days, and yet I wonder if any of them even know what they’re talking about. When God’s fire is referred to in Scripture, it’s always in the sense that it consumes sin. Fire purifies and burns away all that is displeasing to God, and it is without exception, a PAINFUL experience:
1 Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ…
Faith is always described as a precious metal that’s been purified by fire (trials), so if a Christian grounded in the Word asks for an anointing of fire, he is in essence asking God to purify his faith (regardless of how painful that process might be). Yet from the quote above it seems readily obvious that such fire is being defined in a different context, that it instead signifies some sort of vague mutinous takeover of churches and cities by today’s Christian youth.
The more I read, the more I wondered, “What the blue flipping dip are these people talking about?” Then I read about Upton’s strong association with yet another “Christian” movement called The Call, which was founded by Lou Engle. You can see a video of Upton performing for Engle here (what’s with this weaving and bobbing crap by the way? What are we, Hassidic Jews?)
As for Engle himself, he’s a bit of a weenie, obsessed in raising up an “army” of young believers who can help turn back the “black moral morass” that has plagued America since the Beatles, mostly by doing lots of praying, fasting and worship (and a wee bit of political grassroots action.) Some of his bizarre antics have been shown in the anti-Christian documentary Jesus Camp, where he gives a sermon espousing on the evils of abortion and the need to have conservative judges on the Supreme Court… to KIDS. Seriously. Because you know, nothing is more important than making sure children understand the need for having constructionist judges on the bench by the time they’re ten years old. Chuckie Cheese? Pffft, that’s for godless atheists. We’re doing God’s work here.
In spite of this flaming stupidity, some of Engle’s rhetoric still seemed to ring true. Here’s a synopsis of what his movement “The Call” is supposedly all about:
TheCall is a divinely initiated, multi-racial, multi-generational, and cross-denominational gathering to corporate prayer and fasting. We believe that our nation is in desperate need of the mercy of God and a great Spiritual Awakening. TheCall is committed to mobilizing people from all across America to gather together to petition God for His undeserved mercy for our nation in 12-hour solemn assemblies. Just as in the days of Joel, we believe that now is the time to blow the trumpet across our land, to fast, to pray, and return to the Lord with all our hearts.
Sounds all well and good right? Until you start delving into Engle’s background and you start to realize, “Holy cow, this guy’s batsh*& insane!”
It seems Engle’s ultimate goal is really to take America back for Christians, and this “call” is basically a hyped up, Promise Keepers style movement based on the notion that if we just pray really really really hard enough, magical things will happen (and the U.S. Supreme Court will instantly be filled by 9 ultraconservative judges who all graduated from Regent University and are diehard fans of Jason Upton.)
Not that there’s anything wrong with getting involved in the political process, but Engle’s problem is that he apparently thinks God specifically told him to start this movement, in spite of the fact that there’s no Scriptural support for doing such a thing.
The Bible clearly tells us what constitutes a true revival:
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. – 2 Chronicles 7:14
Revivals are a call to individual repentance. It’s not the world God is concerned with in this regard, it’s His people. Any revival movement then should always have this as its primary focus: that we as a Christian community have sinned before God and it’s OUR ways we need to change, not the world’s.
Engle’s movement though is not about that. He makes mild overtures about returning to the Lord and all, but what his movement is really about is changing the socio-political climate of an entire nation. His emphasis is on reforming America, not on reviving the church itself, despite the fact that the Bible clearly indicates things are supposed to get worse, not better, as we move ever closer to the end. He and his followers also don’t seem to realize that before God judges the world, He is going to judge His church FIRST:
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? – 1 Peter 4:17
Knowing this, doesn’t it make more sense that we clean up OUR house first before we start trying to save the world? Unless of course, you’re so absolutely mind bogglingly obtuse that you think the church today isn’t facing any serious problems, in which case I’d like to invite you over to my place so I can stomp your face in with my spiked boot.
The fact is, we don’t need a revival in America. We need a revival IN THE CHURCH. The time will soon come when God is going to judge a completely unprepared Christian church before He does anything with the rest of the world. We’re going to be weighed in the balance, and at the state we’re in today, we are going to be found severely wanting.
We are so screwed.
Tags: album, america, angels, apostasy, bible, christian, Christians, church, criticism, critique, falling away, God, jason upton, Jesus, judgment, keith green, lou engle, lyrics, music, repentance, review, revival, Scripture, sin, song, thecall, wordpress, worship
Categories: Christians Gone Wild
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Loading ...Get Clicky With It – A Web Analytics Review
Lincoln Adams | November 21, 2007 @ 8:00 amSign up for a Clicky account today!
If you’re looking for a tracking solution to monitor your blogging stats, you might want to take a look at Clicky (not to be confused with pMetrics, which licensed and rebranded Clicky for their own user base). Clicky sports a pleasant looking Web 2.0 interface and a myriad of features that rival even Google Analytics, yet it’s much more easier and fun to use. I’ve been so pleased with the service so far that I became one of their affiliates as well.
One of the great things about their dashboard is that you can customize it in a variety of ways so that it will only show the stats that matter most to you. In addition to the dashboard’s versatility, Clicky will also monitor:
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Visitors – including a really fun Google Maps mashup that highlight the countries and cities your visitors are coming from. It also tracks the web browsers they use, as well as the operating systems and screen resolutions.
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Actions – page views, searches, incoming links, what outgoing links visitors clicked on, and what files they downloaded as well.
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Content – what pages on your site received the most attention, the entrance and exit pages, and the top referrals.
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Searches – keywords and keyphrases that led visitors to your site, and the engines they used.
- Spying – in addition, Clicky also offers a “Spy” feature that allows you to see who’s visiting your site in real time, and what pages they’re currently viewing.
These stats can be shown using either a bar graph or a tags cloud, and most of it is exportable in CSV, XML or JavaScript format. You can also drill down to a particular IP address and learn its complete surfing history, a very cool feature if you want to keep track of a particular individual. Clicky also offers you a way to rename IP addresses so they’re easier to track as well. It’s very handy when you want to track when and how often your friends, fans (or trolls) have been visiting your blog. 
Clicky also provides several feeds you can use to track your stats in your feed reader, and if you add your Feedburner url, Clicky will also monitor your Feedburner stats as well, including subscriber counts, item views and item clickthroughs.
There are also widgets available that can give your readers a glimpse of your traffic stats (unless of course your traffic numbers are truly dismal, in which case you might want to wait until it reaches a respectable level before playing with Clicky’s widgets).
As for reliability, Clicky’s servers have been pretty stable for me, only going down for maintenance or other minor issues, which have been pretty rare in my experience so far. The traffic numbers also tend to vary somewhat with other tracking services, but compared to Sitemeter they are usually about the same. Google Analytics however tend to report more traffic, which I attribute to the code being placed in the header rather than the footer of the page. That way even if a page doesn’t load completely, the Google code will still likely be executed, while the other tracking codes in the footer will instead fail to register a hit. It is possible though to place the Clicky code near the header as well to see if it results in a more accurate traffic count. As always, test and see what works best for you.
You can try out the premium version of Clicky completely free for 3 weeks. After your trial period expires, you’ll have the choice of using the basic version for free, or continue using a premium version for the price of a Starbucks coffee a month (I use the Blogger package for $2 a month).
Update: Clicky has now been upgraded with a host of new features, most notably new filtering abilities that allow you to analyze individual visitors and their surfing habits up to when they first visited your site, including stats on location, link referrals, IP addresses, hostnames and more. The new features are amazing and are worth checking out on their own.
Sign up for a Clicky account today!
Tags: affiliate, blog, clicky, review, statistics, stats tracking, web analytics
Categories: Blog Fog
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Hostgator Web Hosting – A Review
Lincoln Adams | November 18, 2007 @ 8:07 pmI’ve been using Hostgator to host my blog for a little over a year now, and I think it’s finally safe to say they’ve proven to be a reliable shared hosting service, so much that I decided to become one of their affiliates. Although I’ve never received hordes of traffic to see how well it could hold up under heavy load, I’ve never had trouble with my site during those times it’s gotten stumbled either (where it’s received hundreds of visitors within a short period of time). My highest peak was when I had about 130 active visitors to my blog at once (and still the server merely yawned). Tickets to help support for one reason or another have always been promptly answered, but my best experience had to be when I was having trouble logging into my WordPress admin one day. I first spoke to someone via live support, who tried his best to resolve the issue on his own before having me open up a ticket so a sysadmin could look into the problem. In the space of about 20 minutes, a systems administrator named David had me up and running after learning that a problem with my Akismet plugin was causing my blog to lag. After I deactivated Akismet and replaced it with a newer version, I was up and running again.
Customer support that’s responsive and knowledgeable, a shared server that remains fast and suffers virtually no downtime, all for an easy 10 bucks a month. I really can’t ask for anything more. They also offer a semi-dedicated solution that’s still shared but where you’ll only share a server with 3 other users, but for some reason they don’t offer any VPS solutions (yet). Regardless, they offer excellent packages for your hosting needs, and in fact mine recently enjoyed a free upgrade (due to Hostgator adding new hard drives to the server I was using).
Word to the wise though: the web hosting industry has had a history of embellishing the bandwidth they claim to offer to potential clients, but what many people don’t know is that such bandwidth will be limited by the server’s CPU and memory resources. Unless you have a vanilla site, you’ll likely never be able to reach the high bandwidth ceiling many hosting services provide because your site will be shut down long before then, due to using too much of the server’s resources. How much you can actually use will depend on the service, and such info is usually buried somewhere in the terms of agreement. Read Hostgator’s Terms of Service and then compare it to other hosting companies for a better idea of how much freedom you’ll have when purchasing a shared hosting account. Regardless, based on the report of other customers, even people who have been slashdotted or dugg have never had a problem with taxing too much of the server. Just make sure you build a good site that’s optimized well (with caching abilities if possible) and you’ll likely never have a problem with Hostgator.
Sign up for a Hostgator account today!
Tags: affiliate, akismet, bandwidth, blog, customer support, downtime, guide, hard drives, hostgator, hosting, hosting service, period of time, review, server, short period, sysadmin, systems administrator, traffic, website, wordpress
Categories: Blog Fog
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Lawsuit Loans – A Review and Guide
Lincoln Adams | November 10, 2007 @ 2:10 pmOddly enough, lawsuits cost money. Usually lots and lots of money, and for many people it may be difficult, if not impossible to cover the expenses of litigation so you can see it to its conclusion. As a result, an entire industry has formed around this need, providing litigation funding to clients who want to keep their lawsuits going. Any Lawsuits is one of the newer loan services offering funding for various types of lawsuits, and is the subject of this review.
A division of Alpine Funding, AnyLawsuits.com is currently in the process of a redesign, but so far their site has been easy to read and navigate, complete with a FAQ section that offers more details on how their funding service works. They also accurately explain that “lawsuit loans” aren’t actually loans, but are really cash advances, so the terms of agreement for this type of funding will be different from what you would expect from a typical bank loan.
Unfortunately, it was hard to garner how good the reputation of this lending company was. The site offers no testimonials from previous clients, and a search inquiry at the Better Business Bureau was unable to turn up any more information. In addition, there was little information as to what the terms of their cash advances might be, other than that you would be required to pay some type of flat fee once you receive a settlement. While this fee is sure to vary from case to case, it would help to give the visitor some general idea of how much he or she might be expected to pay in order to receive litigation funding, and outline what the typical conditions of their contract would be. Such disclosure should go far in establishing trust with current and potentially new clients.
A word to the wise though: litigation funding as a whole is not cheap, and according to financials experts should only be seen as a last recourse. How much you will pay back for such cash advances will depend on the provider, but usually there is either a recurring interest fee you will pay per month, based on the amount of the cash advance, or you will pay a flat fee once the lawsuit is settled. The interest rates can often be high, and since this type of lending is not subject to usury laws, the propensity for abuse is enormous. Say you were to receive $10,000 in funding, with a recurring fee of 10% per month. That’s a $1,000 you’ll pay out of pocket every month until your lawsuit is concluded. And if a lender is particularly shady, you may get hit with all types of unexpected fees while your lawsuit is ongoing.
Not all it’s cracked up to be is it? 
As always, exercise due diligence and research before commiting to any one funding service. For more helpful information, check out these articles:
- 10 Rules of Lawsuits Loans
- Lawsuit Loans – Caveat Emptor
- Questions For Your Lawsuit Financing Company
Tags: alpine, bank loan, better business bureau, borrowing, cash advances, conclusion, disclosure, general idea, guide, lawsuit, lawsuits, legal, litigation, litigation funding, loans, recourse, reputation, review, testimonials
Categories: Legally Speaking
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Getting a Christian Buzz
Lincoln Adams | October 27, 2007 @ 2:34 pmWell this is an interesting concept: a new media network called ChatterJam.com is offering word of mouth services for companies who want to sell goods to a Christian demographic, and who are also looking for valuable feedback on their products. Members of ChatterJam (called Jammers) would receive and test sample products before they are released to the general public, then offer up their impressions and opinions. Membership is free too.
It sounds like fun, and if anything it would give Christians a chance to positively influence and promote faith based markets. And not a moment too soon, since heaven knows any new Christian dating site that gets launched in the future would certainly benefit from my input.
Tags: buzz, christian, Christians, faith, faith based, feedback, goods, heaven, jammers, marketing, markets, products, review, word of mouth
Categories: News Fit To Blog
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Maybe I should move to Sacramento
Lincoln Adams | October 12, 2007 @ 2:07 pmI’ve always been a Table for One guy, but for those of you who are Sacramento singles, you might be able to benefit from a regional dating service called Table For Six.
I fully expected this to be another sham site, but apparently they’ve been around for a long time, and some of their name branding have even become registered trademarks now. The idea is pretty simple, organize dinners for 6 people, 3 men and 3 ladies, and from that you might find a new love interest who could potentially be your future snooglie pookie pums cuddle pie.
Consultations are free, and upon becoming a member, you’ll be matched along with 5 other people according to similar ages, interests and lifestyles, then join them all for an arranged dinner at a moderately upscale restaurant. At the conclusion of the dinner, you’ll be asked who you liked, and if there’s a connection, the service will set up a second date just for the two of you. I have to admit this is a pretty sensible concept, at the very least it affords you an opportunity to have a nice dinner with likeminded people, so even if there’s no connection you won’t come away completely empty handed or embarrassed because of outright rejection.
If you’re feeling particularly brave though, they also offer a Just For Two service, where staff members will meet with you individually and work with you in finding a new dating interest. It seems to be a very involved process too, unlike other dating services who simply match you with someone and then you’re pretty much on your own.
This might be one of the first times I’ve looked at a dating site and thought, “Hmmm, this isn’t so bad.” But even if I lived in California this service might prove too high class for me anyway, since my idea of a moderately upscale restaurant is the local drive-thru at Burger King. You’ll pay for your own dinners by the way, in addition to whatever the costs of membership are, so this will not likely be a low cost endeavor for you. But considering how insanely expensive online dating sites like eHarmony and Match.com are, Table For Six might prove to be a far better investment over the long run.
I’m almost tempted to move to California just to check it out. Almost. 
Tags: burger king, California, conclusion, dating, dating service, dating services, dinners, drive thru, endeavor, high class, lifestyles, long time, love interest, matchmaking, review, sacramento, sham, singles
Categories: Romance and Relationships
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Rejecting Review Requests: The Pain of Turning Down Mo’ Money
Lincoln Adams | October 10, 2007 @ 4:28 pmI just turned down $50 worth of review requests for my site from ReviewMe. I must be smoking something, cuz money is money, ain’t that right honey?
One review request was for a directory I already did a review on, so I’m not sure why they wanted another one, and the last one was for a casino gambling site. That was really a no-brainer though, I mean the idea of getting some coins for writing a review of a gambling site on what’s meant to be a Christian oriented blog just seemed silly to me.
It is getting tiresome though to jump for joy upon getting a review request in my inbox, only to learn that the advertiser making the request deals in casino/poker/viagra/loan consolidation related websites. You’d think these were the only businesses that existed on the Internet. There has to be more out there though. Doesn’t anyone want me to review a suspense novel for them? Or maybe critique a company site specializing in developing simulations for SWAT teams? I mean come on, where are all the REAL businesses for crying out loud? At least offer something that might actually be related to my blog’s theme for once (whatever the hell my theme is supposed to be anyhow). 
Tags: advertiser, blog, brainer, casino, christian, coins, critique, gambling, honey, inbox, loan consolidation, money, paid posts, pam, quality, rejection, requests, review, reviews, simulations, suspense novel
Categories: Blog Fog
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