http://www.pastormelissascott.com/

http://www.universitycathedral.com/songs/song2/play.html

This is a strange phenomenon. I ran across this lady on late night television, preaching up a storm.

She's extremely talented. She can roll on for hours, apparently without a script or teleprompter, striding around on the stage like Mick Jagger in his prime. She's a fairly good singer, too, and closes every sermon with a performance backed up by a full band.

She's pretty easy on the eyes, with a slim frame, pretty face, and thick wavy hair down to her waist.

She appears to be quite intelligent, filling whiteboards with hand written translations of original Greek text to analyse the meanings of biblical passages in their first writing. She's extremely articulate and a great orator.

I would expect that she should blow the doors off any televangelist on the air today.

Then I Googled her. Wow.

If what I read in numerous posts is true, she's one wild chica. Internet rumors claim that Melissa Scott was formerly a porn star performing under the name of Barbie Bridges, and is a former Miss Nude Can-Am contestant. She apparently married the long time televangelist Gene Scott in 2000 when he was 70 and she was 32. When he died in 2005, she inherited the whole shebang.

To hell with the televangelist story. This one's a movie waiting to be made.

Hello "thrice",

Yes I, too, have been captivated by Pastor Melissa Scott on a handful of occasions. And yet ... I wondered if there weren't something just a little bit off, something con artist-y, going on there. I mean, when she's really getting into it, she slides into the "Jaysus saves!" mode and adopts a slight southern US accent that she doesn't otherwise have, but I figured I'd cut her some slack, that maybe she was born in the South and I know that long-overcome accents come back to people when they're extremely emotional. But another time I was watching and she was really into the Greek language thing and she was suddenly speaking with ... you guessed it, a slight Greek accent. Well, she does look Greek, so that's plausible. But her knowledge of all ancient Mediterranean languages, cultures, beliefs and sacred writings struck me as so impressive that I found it surprising that a scholar of that caliber would be evangelizing on some cheesy cable channel rather than teaching at an esteemed university. So my curiosity about her -- and especially about her academic credentials -- finally propelled me to google her.

Even if I were a Bible-thumping Christian, I don't think I would mind all that much that she had been a porn star, or even that, while young and beautiful, she married an elderly, terminal televangelist. I would mind if she turned out to be a con artist. I don't know if she is or not. I'm still curious as to precisely where she acquired all her scholarly knowledge of ancient languages and texts.

Maybe someone else will post the answer.

Best,
dumbstruck

Hi all,

I just wanted to mention that, since having posted, I became aware that she has the power to erase from cyberspace all negative opinions and commentary about her (possibly including this post). For example: her Wikipedia entry has been deleted.

All.

Well, I have a number of problems with Melissa Scott ... firstly, she has absolutely no formal training or credentials in theology or linguistics (both fields in which she professes to be an expert). Her late husband (Dr. Gene Scott) was somewhat of a cook too, but at least he had a Ph.D ... even though it was in the 'Philosophy of Education'. She has no more than a high school diploma ... while that doesn't necessarily mean she can't know anything it certainly is doubtful she could master ancient Greek and Aramiac through self study. Myself, I am a Doctor of History with a professorship at the University Copenhagen (Denmark), and I can tell you that while her translations are somewhat accurate they also have many blatantly amatuerish errors and reek of naivete.

I have never seen Pastor Melissa Scott write/speak in Greek or Latin on the fly ... the texts are already written on the whiteboard before the 'lecture' starts, and she merely 'translates' them (no doubt prerehearsed). In the linguistic community this is extraordinarily unusual!!! I cannot stress this enough -- people who really are scholars and fluent/proficient in ancient languages are constantly writing and translating things as they pop into their head. They are not confined to what was written on the board before they started lecturing -- I have never seen Melissa Scott do this once.

This should be a red flag to anyone with even a shred of critical thinking skills.

This is beyond the fact she jumps from one non sequiter to the next, using circular logic, and unsound syllogisms (in an epistemological sense). She starts off saying exactly what question she going to address/answer, and then she never answers it! She just rambles on and on trying to impress and dupe her audience into seeing past the obvious flaws in her message -- she is a master B.S.'er. As Plato would have said " [this type of] rhetoric is little more than art of convincing the ignorant," because if you had any expert knowledge of what she is talking about you'd realize how fallacious her thought process is.

Then there's also her past stint as a porn actress, and well documented penchant for opportunism and unethical behavior. I find it extremely odd she would have anything in common with Dr. Scott ... since he was about 50 years her senior when they married. In fact, Dr. Scott divorced his wife just so he could marry Melissa Scott, and the only reason she even met him is because he used to pay her to come to his lectures (Dr. Scott used to pay models and 'pretty girls' to sit in the front row of his audiences to attract more parishoners).

She just reaks of hypocracy and ignorance to me ... I can't stand people whom feign expertise, but do little else than fill unwitting students with ignorant principles.


*I have a Post Doc. in History with a specialization in 20th Century Scandinavian History (from Brown University - 2003). As all other professional historians at the doctorate level I am required to be proficient in several modern and ancient languages -- I can speak 6 modern languages, and have officially studied Latin and Greek at the university level.

I hope I can lend some insight into this thing about Melissa. I used to, years ago, listen to Gene Scott on shortwave radio. He was transmitting from towers in Texas, and I could pick up the signal very well in Florida. He knew that it was getting into florida, and one day I felt like he was talking to me directly. He said, "If you are listening to this in Florida, come to LA, to my church". I was planning to go to California to visit relitives, so I thought, Why not. I printed a map from their web site and drove in a rented car from San Diego on the Sunday morning, after I got to California. I was shocked to see Dr. Scott bring his new wife out on stage. I figured she must have been at least 30 years younger than him. I did not know anything about her, up to them. I also was a little suprised about the suit he was wearing that looked like he had tailor made in Italy for about three thousand dollars. She was dressed very nicely, in what looked like very expensive designer clothes. I was devistated afterwards and told my family that I was shocked.
I had the same sort of experience lately, as the previouse posters. Channel surfing late at night and seeing her lecturing. My opinion, based on my experience of a couple years of listening on the radio and watching him on the internet and going myself to his church, is that we are watching recorded lectures that she did while Dr. Gene Scott was actually still alive. She is only doing exactly what he did, and I sat through myself, with the cameras going, and laying out a big, long diatribe to, in the end make a very small point about the meaning of the use of a single word in the Bible. Just think about Falwell's tapes being run, now, as if he was still alive.

Sorry, but after I posted my comment, I went to some other forums and read what people were writing to defend Melissa, and I am so disgusted that I feel compelled to make another comment. I think that I wanted to be a little compassionate when I wrote all that. But, the more I read from people, the more I feel that my commpassion has been driven out of me. All I am doing, right now, is to add a few details to my little story that I left out, thinking I might be a little bit too mean. I know now that I was wrong. People are caught up in this deception and feel like they are being blessed by God to watch this. And we are all going to pay for our criticism in hell, or something.
I recieved my invetation from Dr. Scott to come to his church, over shortwave radio. I felt guilty to listen on the internet, after buying a computer, because I did not want to use up his band width, when I was not donating to his minestry. I felt comfortable listening on the radio because the waves were already out there, in the air, and had already been paid for. But, I did go on his website to apply for admission to his service on line. When I showed up at the church, with my girlfriend, I was told that our names were not on the list to be allowed in. I told the security man that I had made a reservation on line. He said that they had problems with their server and that we should come back next week. I told him that we had just come all the way from Florida to see Dr. Scott. They left us in the security booth untill he could get permission to let us in. Several men came and questioned us until they decided we were telling the truth and we were safe to let in. We had to be escorted in and have someone watching us. We were told that by the time we were cleared, that we ended up being late. We had to waite in the lobby untill there was some sort of break in the activity, inside, before we could be seated. Dr Scott did not like to be disturbed by people moving around whille he was talking. I could hear through the door that Dr. Scott had started talking and I thought that he was giving an opening prayer. I told my girlfriend that they were praying and that she should bow her head. I looked at our escort and he looked imbarassed. I did not know why he was acting that way, but it gradualy dawned on me. What sounded like a prayer to God, was going on and was extoling the virtues and greatness and wonderful works of ...... someone. then I realized that he opened his service by talking about himself. I was horrified. But I calmed down and did not say anything, but decided to pay attention and see if there was any sort of prayer, at all, in the sevice. The answer was no. Think what you want, but that experience changed the way that I thought about him, from then, on.

I feel like I should check back periodicly, to see if my comments have been removed. I went back, again, and read more posts on other forums and am convinced that this woman has a power of intimidation to have things removed. I realize that there are things that have beem mentioned on posts, but can not be now found, including how the church was actually run, on the ground level. I hope my story will shed some light on it. I know that I have had a lot of people who I have told this story to, tell me that they did not think that this is a church, at all.

Your posts won't be removed here, jmdewey. We're all about free speech.

The more I look at this whole thing , the more it looks like a cult. I was looking at usegroup alt.fan.gene-scott. I was directed to this by someone (studio) at a forum. I went there and this guy has hundeds of posts, arguing with the fans. Wow. This reminds me of another one of my stories. Before I moved to Florida, I was living for a while in northern California. Before the Jim Jones cult moved to south america, and after they were in Oakland, they were in a place in Mindacino County, called Pine Valley. A friend of mine was living on property that his parents had bought in this area. I found that there were people living in the area, from Oakland, still, years after the tragedy in Guiana. I found out that there were enforcers that were loyal to Jones, and you did not dare say anything bad about jones, or you could end up with something bad happening to you. This could seem like paranoia, but I feel a lot better not living there.
I am just trying to say that the more I read what people say in defence of the Scott cult, the more uneasy I feel about it. I am not on a big campain here. If you want that, read posts by this guy, studio, who worked as a lighting tech for the scotts. Actually, yesterday I went to google Melissa to see if I could look up her lectures, because I fell asleep before the end of her lecture and I wanted to see how the show ended. Wow. Was I in for a serious attitude adjustment!

I tried to watch Melissa, as an expiriment, last night, to see if I could still watch her, after what I have found out about her in the last two days. Kind of like what I was saying in my story, about when I went to the "Universaty Cathedral". It started with her standing still, straight up, for about two seconds. It makes it seem like the tape starts right in the middle of a srvice, so you miss how the whole thing begins and you never notice the fact that there is no praying. The white boards were already prepped. She emediatly started walking across the stage and started some rant defending her style of presintaion, then ripping on how other preachers do not have the right emphasis in their prsentations and are missing the most fundamental points. Then she started saying that you have to base your faith on knowledge, and not feelings. I can see her point, but the way she was trying to explain it sent me to the mute button on my remote. I tryed to watch her hands moving around on her flailing arms and her body bending up and down. That was all I could take. Had to turn the TV off and turn on the Radio. I listened to something not so self righteous, on Coast to Coast AM. I thought about what some people wrote about her wrapping herself in ortodoxy. I can see that. She makes it hard for people to attack her on her theology because there is no glareing heresy to point at.
I think the best way to evaluate her would be to look at who she is associating herself with. If you cared to look into it, very interesting. She is going to events, sponsered by religeous organizations, where she is being promoted as a prophet, or so it appears.

I actually love the idea that she does not have the "credentials" on her resume. Maybe she allows God to speak through her through the Holy Spirit. Imagine that! Someone without credentials, or a doctorate, or a masters, etc. able to teach in an unbelievable way.

I hate it when people are jealous of success and then feel compelled to offer up reasons to not listen.

I don't care if she was a porn star or a queen - if she can teach the Word - in a unique way - and people are blessed by it - then let it be. As for me - I will listen and watch until she proves herself a false teacher - but nothing other than that will enter into my decision.

Quote:

. . . if she can teach the Word . . .

What's "the Word"? Gullible?

Quote:

She just reaks of hypocracy and ignorance to me ... I can't stand people whom feign expertise, but do little else than fill unwitting students with ignorant principles.


*I have a Post Doc. in History with a specialization in 20th Century Scandinavian History (from Brown University - 2003). As all other professional historians at the doctorate level I am required to be proficient in several modern and ancient languages -- I can speak 6 modern languages, and have officially studied Latin and Greek at the university level.

Is English one of the languages you're not proficient in? How is language proficiency defined and demonstrated at the professional historian doctorate level?

OdinofAzgard wrote:

Quote:

She just reaks of hypocracy and ignorance to me ... I can't stand people whom feign expertise, but do little else than fill unwitting students with ignorant principles.


*I have a Post Doc. in History with a specialization in 20th Century Scandinavian History (from Brown University - 2003). As all other professional historians at the doctorate level I am required to be proficient in several modern and ancient languages -- I can speak 6 modern languages, and have officially studied Latin and Greek at the university level.

Is English one of the languages you're not proficient in? How is language proficiency defined and demonstrated at the professional historian doctorate level?

I don't think spelling errors in a hastily written forum post are necessarily indicative of a lack of intelligence. Do you?

Quote:

Odin: Is English one of the languages you're not proficient in? How is language proficiency defined and demonstrated at the professional historian doctorate level?

Quote:

I don't think spelling errors in a hastily written forum post are necessarily indicative of a lack of intelligence. Do you?

Amazing nonsequitor. Where have I called the author's intelligence into question? I believe I already mentioned in this forum my great respect for a guy I dubbed The Professor, who was kind and patient enough to introduce me to Natural Law philosophy and Social Contract Theory on an abortion message board. He couldn't spell worth a damn but was one of the most intelligent people I've come across online.

And you can be damn sure that when he was teaching me, I couched my arguments as respectfully as possible. Our conversation lasted over a week and was one of the most entertaining and enlightening experiences I've had online. When a spectator made the mistake of mischaracterizing our conversation as a "debate," honesty and humility compelled me to point out that kindergarten dropouts don't debate Rhodes Scholars.

No non sequitor.

I thought you were using what he wrote in his post, which contained spelling errors, to question his ability to earn a doctorate. If not, my bad.

I did a little more research today on Pastor Scott, and the Wescott Faith Center. Woo hoo.

Sounds like she's joining forces with the Randy and Paula White group in Florida, and Paul Crouch's TBN network. The Whites are pulling in about $35-40 million per year in donations, and auditors say the Crouch group is worth $780 million.

And I found a link to Melissa Scott as Barbi Bridges. The Bridges photos, viewed by my own sinning eyes, do definitely appear to be Melissa Scott wearing nothing but a smile. I would say she has indeed been amply blessed.

Wow! That's a story and a half, bro.

I'm sorry these people compelled you to drive so far for such a farce of a show.

Then again, there's a lesson to be learned: If it pays to be heard on the radio, wants you to pay to listen, needs you to pay attention/pay ca$h to be heard, and features a porn star as a pastor, then we will be correct in guessing what it really is: A bogus piece of crap dressed up to take money, give nothing, and leave us feeling like Jesus should bitch-slap this particular brand of sinner.

Or something like that.

Clearly there are no posters here that are even slightly knowledgeable of The Bible (aka "The Word"), but boy oh boy there sure are a lot of fingers pointing at others, particularly Dr. Melissa Scott! The Bible emphatically says that WE WILL ALL have to stand before THE LORD on the day of judegment and will have to "account for every idle word". Pastors are part of that "all" and The Bible says they have even more responsibility/accountability for their teaching. God is in control and will deal justly with all, including Pastor Scott. I am a Christian (with lots of faults, thanks to this flesh and being in this world) nonetheless and while not a theologian, I haven't caught anything of Pastor Scott's teaching that would cause me to take pause. Let me offer just a few /couple more biblical truths for those who don't know...

1. The message of the cross is folly (foolishness!) to those that are perishing (not saved / have not received the free gift of salvation) but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1Cor 1:18
2. The world did not like Jesus or the things of God and still doesn't. Truth be told, satan is the dark ruler of this earth and I think most folks know the basic gist of that story--he started out as a beautiful angel in heaven, but was cast down when he thought he could be like God. (That'll never happen my friend!) So consequently, you unbelievers want to point fingers, say bad things about people you don't know, write things about things you read on the internet which may or may not even be true. Pastors are easy marks. My point is that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) and our righteousness is like a filthy rag compared to Jesus' righteousness--HE alone is the standard and as long as we are in these earthly bodies, we can only do but so much. Even then it is not what we alone do, but what The Holy Spirit enables us to do. Sin is sin, evil is evil. There are NO different shades or grades of sin. Jesus said that if we wish harm on our brother that we have as much as committed murder; if we look at someone with lust in our heart, we have already committed adultery. What's so AMAZING about the whole salvation thing is that God can actually look at me and other born-again Christians like we've never sinned! Jesus did that for me, and YOU. His blood was shed for all the sin of the world for all time. It is a done deal!!! But we need to confess our sins, realize that apart from God we are Nothing and can do nothing, and believe that Jesus died for us and conquered death so that ALL men (and women) might be saved! There is no other name under heaven by which all men must be saved! The work has been done and Jesus loves us all so much that He came here for one reason only---to die! He was born to die--what an awesome profession of love. Why wouldn't someone want that? Why would someone gamble with their eternity (!) by not accepting such a beautiful and wondrous gift.

3. Money is one of the most talked about subjects in The Bible. God invented it so I always find it interesting that the world gets so hung up on it. THe Bible does NOT declare that money is the root of all evil, BUT that "the LOVE of money is the root of all evil for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." 1Tim 6:10. Again, all Pastors will have to be accountable, as well as everyone else. The church need money to do the work of the kingdom of God: preaching, teaching, feeding and clothing the needy and on and on. Christians are all commissioned (CO-MISSION) to spread The Gospel. Do you actually think that NON-Christian organizations and businesses don't charge Christian organizations for shipping or travel or air-wave time? Christians have bills to pay, too!

That's probably all many of you can handle for now. If you've read this far--great, because The Word of God does not return void. Hopefully, I've planted ONE seed in fertile soil! God is So GOOD!!

*cue organ music*

Oh dear. Flashing back to Baptist Bible Camp...

Exodus 22:18 .

Quote:

Clearly there are no posters here that are even slightly knowledgeable of The Bible (aka "The Word"), but boy oh boy there sure are a lot of fingers pointing at others, particularly Dr. Melissa Scott!

How addled do you gotta be to believe the bible is "the word" of some deity? You bible-thumping morons still murdering witches ( Exodus 22:18], as commanded by your fictional psychotic sadistic mass-murdering misanthropic alien?

Quote:

*cue organ music*

Or banjo music. She reminds me of the inbred kid in the movie Deliverance.

She is the BEST preacher I have ever heard. May God bless her for bringing the Scriptures to light. I wish there was a preacher like that in New York City.

I am not surprised at the ignorance shown in most of the comments. You obviously are ignorant of the fact that Jesus changes people's hearts, minds, and actions. Just like Mary Magdalene, who was a prostitute had her heart, actions, and mind, Pastor Scott indeed reveals, from what I can tell (no pre-judgement like some - looking for slime to justify their own slime) she has a real relationship with God and wants others to know the truth. I have found that her doctrine is quite sound and that she does hear from the Holy Spirit of God.
As to wherther she has the degrees as one illustrious blogger aludes, she does have fantastic insight into the character of God and truths revealed in the Word of God (Bible). The scribes and pharasees in Jesus day were extremely educated. They understood Judaism well but lacked understanding of God (the one that they were to represent). Jesus said, "you make people twice as fit for Hell as yourself."

To understand any book properly and what the author meant, one must know the author. Any old book has no author around and everyone tht reads it will have different interpretations of it. The Bible is different! The Author and Inspirer of the writings is still around. You have to know the Author before you can know the Book. Not only that, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit of God to indwell the believer and to "teach all things." If you don't know the author or are open to know the truth so that God can teach you, you might as read a book by Shakesphere - because you will understand Shakesphere's story and can not understand God's Word.

I'm sorry but I'm very embarassed that Christians are behaving like this.
The message is what's important........not the messenger. Do I need to remind you that Mary Magdeline was a woman of tainted reputation and that Jesus loved her very much.
I am not the judge..........God is........and it is not my place to tell Him who He can use to reach people. If what you say is true then I pray God forgive her for what she does........but if she is real.............I pray God forgive you all for what you are doing. If we spent as much time trying to reach lost souls as we do bagging on TV evangelists then we might have a better world to live in.

As for those of you who choose to go to the site of Barbie to look at the (porn) photos, I question your walk, and I'll pray for you too. When we recieve Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior then we are washed clean. Is she any differant than the rest of us? Let anyone who has never sinned cast the first stone. I know that I'm a sinner who has been saved by grace and I praise God that His love and grace abounds in the world today. I refuse to be a tool of satan by gossiping. Especially if it is by somebody God has chosen. God chooses His vessels. Not us.

We are to shod our feet with the gospel of peace. We are to carry truth to a hurting world to save the souls of those being held in bondage by satan. Why are the Christians today taking their eyes off of Jesus to look at ex porn stars or to gossip about somebody who claims to be a sister in Christ Jesus. The chaff will be burned in the end but the chaff grows with the wheat. I am not the one to say who is chaff and who is wheat. I refuse to participate in this ........ but .....as a sister in Christ Jesus.............I'm here to warn you that what I have read here is not good.

Until the Christians learn to stand together we will never do the work that God so desires us to do as a church. A divided house can not stand and this sort of thing devides the church which is exactly what satan wants.


God bless you all
YSIC

Don't you find it troubling that Melissa Scott and her allies, the Crouches of TBN ministries, are receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in donations with no apparent accountability? Why won't they join organizations that ensure financial disclosure for church organizations? People who run honest ministries have nothing to fear from the light of day and opening their books.

It's already well known that a number of televangelists are living the lives of royalty on multimillion dollar estates with private jets. Melissa Scott and her friends are extremely secretive about their lives. Why?

LET THOSE WHO ARE WITHOUT SIN CAST THE FIRST STONE!

NOT A ONE COULD.

THERE WAS ONLY ONE MAN WHO WAS WITHOUT SIN AND HE DIED ON A CROSS FOR OUR SINS.

REMEMBER WHAT GOD DID TO THE PEOPLE WHO CONDEMNED MOSES'S WIFE FOR BEING ETHIOPIAN. IF GOD CHOSE HER TO CARRY HIS WORD WE NEED TO RESPECT THAT.

WHY DON'T WE ALL AGREE IN PRAYER THAT NO MATTER WHAT ....... SOULS WILL BE REACHED FOR THE GLORY OF GOD THROUGH HER TEACHING.

ALSO MAY WE REJOICE THAT HE CAN TAKE SOMEONE LIKE HER AND ANOINT HER TO PREACH WITH THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. HER BACKGROUND MAKES THE TESTIMONY SHE HAS MUCH STRONGER AND GIVES ME HOPE.

I'm a single mom and have never been a hooker or porn star but I can tell you this.......I know Jesus and praise Him and His Father for everybody He chooses to use. We are in the end times and it is going to take all of us to do His work.

If you are that concerned then I suggest you study the Word of God and pray to the Father in the name of Jesus that His Spirit minister the truth to you in this situation. Because His Spirit is the Spirit of love. Not condemnation and hate. That is of satan.

May the grace and love of God bless you all.

I can't speak for anyone else, Tolerose. I don't consider simple, honest questions to be condemnation and hate.

What do I ask? The same thing that the IRS asks every business and adult in this country every April 15th. How much money did you take in last year? How much did you spend? And where did you put what was left?

I don't think the Internal Revenue Service hates or condemns me. As someone who's a citizen of this country, I have an obligation to pay taxes on what I earn. I would say that someone who takes in donations every day for more money than I earn in a year shouldn't be too troubled to answer the same questions that you and I do.

Keep it up thrice, and you'll just get lots of moral and religious dogma thrown at you. It's easier than actually answering the questions you've posed.

The only way you will get the answers about financial accountability is to talk to Melissa Scott herself or her financial advisors. I don't know. All I know is what I'm held accountable for myself.I can't speak for anybody but myself on that matter. You know, I don't think about such things because I know that in the end we all stand before God and will be judged for what we do here. My concern is that as Christians we should stand firm in the Word of God together.

I used to worry about such things but don't anymore. It's all in God's hands and I know that He will take care of it. We all pay for decisions we make in the end whether it be good or bad. I know that I'm more concerned about the salvation of the souls of the people I love and meet. I'm also more concerned about my soul and what God will say to me about what I have done and am doing now.

If I had the answers to your question then I would answer it. I don't however and really am not concerned about what anybody else makes finacially or what they do with it. I'm too busy trying to make a living for myself and by the time the day is over I'm usually too tired to care.

The only thing that I can suggest is that you pray about it and in time the answer that God wants you to have will come to you. I pray that God gives you all peace with this topic.

God bless and take care.

How convenient. You're being told that God will take care of it all for you in the end, so you don't need to worry about it. Meanwhile, the same people who are telling you this are raping people's pocketbooks, and living the high life "in this world".

Televangelists who live the billionaire's life now while telling you to put all your faith in God and the next life? They fall about one step lower than the people who send the Nigeria email bank scams. I just really hope, for the "flock's" sake, that there is such a good afterlife. I just picture everyone getting to the door, and St. Peter slapping his forehead and saying "Another one? Sheesh, that lady was good. And rich."

Message to Thrice. Please understand that it is really difficult to find a great preacher who can explain the Bible the way it was written. Pastor Melissa Scott tries her best to explain it from the original manuscripts and I give her a lot of credit for doing such a good job. She has taken her talents (she speaks so many languages fluently) and is using them to bring glory to God. Please don't say negative things about her.

rachelslight wrote:

Message to Thrice. Please understand that it is really difficult to find a great preacher who can explain the Bible the way it was written. Pastor Melissa Scott tries her best to explain it from the original manuscripts and I give her a lot of credit for doing such a good job. She has taken her talents (she speaks so many languages fluently) and is using them to bring glory to God. Please don't say negative things about her.

I'd like to give somewhat of a ++ to this post.

From what I've seen of Melissa Scott, I've been fairly impressed. Translating Hebrew isn't exactly a parlor trick. Having been to many "churches" in Tulsa, I'm quite familiar with pastors who see their flock as sheep in more ways than one. Melissa Scott could, theoretically be such a pastor. But usually such pastors don't get in to translating Hebrew. They prefer to just keep things simple, exactly the way they want their flock to be.

With all that said, I believe it is still a good idea to keep a weary eye out on pastors. They're not always as good as they want you to believe. Sure, God will judge them in the end. But that doesn't mean you have to fatten their wallets in the mean time.

The following is my thoughts only and don't require any validation or approval. On this business of giving money to the church or to preachers. I see on Dr. Melissa Scott's web site in the Learning Center area there is a statement about Giving, The Basics, The Foundation. It says, ". . . Let him who is taught in the word pay the one who taught him . . . Giving should be to the teacher, and should be in response to the value of teaching received." To me this leaves the decision in the hands of the giver to decide how much to give.

I believe in supporting the teaching of the word of God with a tithe BUT I think no church or pastor should be saying how much to give in a specific dollar amount. The Bible does talk about giving a tenth of our earnings or ten cents of ever dollar earned. When the requirement was given to the people to give a 10th of their earnings the government took care of the people. The people didn't pay for their health care and didn't pay taxes like we do today. So my decision for me on giving a 10th of my earnings is I will first subtract the amount of federal, state tax and the amount I pay for my health plan from my gross earnings. The dollar amount left is the amount I will pay a 10th of as my tithe support to a ministry. However, if an emergency has come up during the month requiring money, if I've gotten sick and need medication or some other emergency has come up I will subtracted that from the 10th I pay.

There are very few preachers or ministers who are preaching and teaching scripture from the word of God. Pastor Melissa Scott is one and Pastor Arnold Murray in Gravette, Arkansas is another. I think if a person is lucky enough to hear a sharing of the true word of God from the scriptures it deserves a monetary reward to the one or church who preached the word. I believe it's the private business of a person doing the giving as to how much is given and no pastor or church has the right to insist that a person give a certain amount to be welcome to attend a church. I believe God approves of my attitude on this because it's fair and makes sense. Broadcast time, satellite time, the cost of literature to send to people to help them understand God's word does costs money. So if a person receives help from a ministry, church or pastor then it's only fair to give something in monetary support in return. I also think a pastor who is teaching the word of God has the right to ask for monetary support.


I don't see anything in the scriptures that requires me to attend or be a member of a church or religious organization to be accepted into Heaven when I die. I don't mean this to sound like people shouldn't think or feel they should go to church. I think attending church, or being a member of a religious organization is and should be a personal choice. To me a belief in the birth, resurrection and death of Christ is a requirement along with a sincere effort to live a life pleasing to God and asking forgiveness when I commit a transgression against God's laws. Those laws start with the Ten Commandments. We are flawed human beings, we will never be perfect in this life. All we can do is ask God's forgiveness when we commit a transgression and then continue to live the best life we can each day with the help of God.

I forgot to mention, and their may be more, Pastor Joel Osteen our of Houston, Texas is another one who preaches the word of God from the scriptures.

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I think if a person is lucky enough to hear a sharing of the true word of God from the scriptures it deserves a monetary reward to the one or church who preached the word.

Which god? Which scriptures? And if you'd been born back when your authority figures were worshipping multiple gods, isn't it probable you'd have worshipped those gods too? Any chance you'll learn to think for yourself and rationally question your assumptions some day before you die?

I'm constantly amazed at some people's inability or unwillingness to critically analyze information. Anyone who blathers on about "the true word of God" obviously hasn't learned to separate wheat from chaff.

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To understand any book properly and what the author meant, one must know the author.

Probably one of the stupidest things ever written on a message board. Turn in your textbooks, students. If you don't know their authors, you can't understand their content "properly."

Show me someone who professes to have an understanding of a supernatural deity and I'll show you a weak-minded moron spouting idiocies.

OdinofAzgard, I said, " The following is my thoughts only and don't require any validation or approval." You don't know me or what I'm capable of doing, attacking my intelligence is just mean spirited. You follow what works for you and I'll follow what works for me.

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OdinofAzgard, I said, " The following is my thoughts only and don't require any validation or approval." You don't know me or what I'm capable of doing, attacking my intelligence is just mean spirited. You follow what works for you and I'll follow what works for me.

I was neither validating nor approving, your requirements not being of particular interest to me. What does interest me is your unwarranted belief in the supernatural and your apparent belief that your god has chosen to communicate to you and your fellow morons through words in a book.

Heather Locklear loves me. It says so right here in this post so you know it's true. Given your gullibility, I expect you to believe in Heather's love for me. If you think the author(s) of your "word" are more truthful than me, what makes you think so?

Are you capable of honestly assessing sources of information to determine which are more likely to be credible? Do you believe the Encyclopedia Britannica and the National Enquirer to be equally credible? If not, why not?

If lying to yourself about the existence of a deity that supposedly LOVES you "works" for you, I consider it a abdication of your responsiblity to be rational, but I wouldn't mind much if you kept your loony belief to yourself and it didn't cause you to hurt others. But posting your superstitious nonsense on a message board and calling it "truth" undermines and degrades the concept of truth, offenses that those of us who believe in the importance of truth don't like to see even when it's as cartoonish as your religious beliefs.

Unfortunately, your public professions of your idiot beliefs also give support to others who also believe in supernatural deities, people who hurt others because they believe their actions are sanctioned by their deity. Once you irrationally believe in things without credible evidence, you open the door to all manner of other unwarranted beliefs.

There was an story in the paper today about the Christian parents who let their diabetic daughter die because they believed prayer would save her. According to the medical examiner, they told him not to bother with an autopsy because "she'd be alive by then." It's been awhile, so it looks like you won't get the chance to tell that little girl how your unwarranted beliefs work for you. Her parents' didn't work for her.

Too bad there wasn't someone there "mean spirited" enough to take her to the hospital. She'd probably still be alive. Any other little girls you want to help kill?

OdinofAzgard, I see you made a second reply. You said my requirements didn't interest you. Something was of interested to you since you made two comments and the last one being quite lengthy. What I said are not my "requirements" they are my thoughts, notice the frequent use of "I." I don't understand why you think you can speak about what other people might read and find of interest, I think people are capable of reading and deciding for themselves and they don't need you doing it for them.

As I said before, you don't know me and what you said in your second post doesn't apply to me even tho you make a lot of assumptions you think do apply. I think you're looking for someone to fight with but I'm not going to be that person. You're the one who is trying to force your thoughts on others, I see other posts on this site from you. So again, you follow what works for you and I'll follow what works for me. And this is the last comment I'm going to make to you, for me to continue this would serve no constructive purpose. Race, religion and politics can be discussed but not argued about in the manner you want to do.

I have sat at my computer and read 90% of the "thoughts" in the forum. What makes me stop and wonder is...if you are so quick to judge her negativly, then why don't you try to do a better job of it! I don't think anyone person could possibly understand the true translations of the Bible. I am a true believer in God, but I have 3 Bibles; one is a New Oxford, one is a King James, and the last one is a youth Bible, sometimes in my readings I have to cross referance each to understand one meaning or passage.

The other things is of your up that late at night and not sleeping "peacefully" there there is something troubling your mind or soul and maybe just maybe divine intervention made you tune her in. Me on the other hand my husband is curently deployed that is why I am up so late.

So she is not perfect, who is? I am not and if you think that you are...WRONG. But if one person sitting up late at night flipping channels come to know God and his word through her or any other televangelist for that matter, Enlightenment is sure to follow

Hello, I was looking for Pastor Melissa Scott's website via a google search and came across this forum. I read only a hand full of the comments on here and wanted to leave a comment.

I am a Child of God although I have not been brought up in any church nor was I saved via reading a thingy on a hand out. My walk with Jesus has been a long hard walk alone. The spirit has shown me many great things and I have learned alot of valueable lessons. I have made many mistakes in my life and had to learn from each and every one of them.

Although I have not been brought up in a church, I have attended many services in different churches. I have been around many religious people of different beliefs and back grounds. Because of my background I have had a hard time trusting the persons standing on the pulpit preaching. All I learned came directly from the Bible and the leading of the Holy Spirit, so I tend to anaylze anyone that is speaking or claiming to speak God's Word.

With that said, I want to say that when I stumbled upon Melissa Scott one night I was amazed by her teaching. After a few times watching the program I decided to start taping it to send to my sister who is in need of this teaching but will not hear it from me. {she is my older sister}.

I honestly think if people would listen to God's Word they would soon see that Melissa Scott is very blessed! I found it funny that some people pointed out Melissa's past here. Come on now, who do you think Salvation is for?? The Sinless??

Now I don't know anything about Melissa other then the few times I have caught her teaching and what I have read here so far. I can say that if by chance what has been said about her past is true, it should cause a stir in the hearts of all that read it as it shows how God Works in the lives of His Children! I know I for one, will hold this women up in prayer always! She has come a long way and I can bet she traveled a very hard road to get to were she is today. Thank God for His Children that hear and obey his Word and take up their cross to follow Him!

May God touch you as He has Melissa!