More TBN/Angel/DayStar Weirdness

Now we've got Protestants with sacramentals.

On "The Healing Hour," I got to see a guy and his wife peddling some packets of "anointing oil." These packets were said to have the "corporate" power of a whole bunch of prayer letters that the oil pot had been sitting on for a while. Folks could get a packet of the oil, which would then serve as a "point of contact" for the person's faith to help them "release their anointing."

On a different show, Gregory Dickow was modeling a prayer shawl. Same "point of contact" stuff. No anointing or corporate prayers that I heard. Instead, the shawl would help you "place demands on your covenant with God." Even sans prayer shawl, this whole thing struck me as weird just because I don't see myself being in a position to "place demands" on God. In fact, I'm not sure hubris climbs any higher than that.

Then Jentezen Franklin was going around with salt packets for his congregation. The idea was that you mixed the packets of two spouses together as a blessing for the marriage. Or something like that.

Between the insistence of so many on being called bishops, to the return of ministerial vestments, to liturgical worship, I am amazed at how much Catholic stuff is catching on in Protestant circles. Even moreso, I am dumbfounded over the irony that this is the exact the sorts of stuff that you tend to hear "progressive" Catholics griping about and wanting to get rid of. Such people can rightfully be said to be more Protestant than the Protestants themselves.

The world is a very strange place.