Category Archives: Prosperity Gospel

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Greenleaf Recap Season 1 Episode 8: The Whole Book…

lady mae

Hello World,

So, this Greenleaf episode was sooo explosive, I’m tempted to start this Greenleaf recap from the end of the episode and write back to the beginning….but that would ultimately spoil everything so here I go from the beginning…

Wedded Bliss?

In the opening scene, Isabel is nearly drowning in the minutia that is wedding planning. She asks her fiancé Noah to decide whether he wants napkins with the words “Noah & Isabel” or the words “Mr. & Mrs.” on them? (Aside: As a kinda newlywed since I was married three years ago next month, I know the game she was playing. The truth is a typical bride pretty much wants to plan everything and just have the groom show up and say, “I do.” But to demonstrate egalitarianism since marriages are supposed to be about two equals coming together, a bride occasionally asks for the input from the groom although she really doesn’t want it…Marriage is about  egalitarianism. Weddings are not…LOL…)So Noah picks the first option while Isabel was hoping for the second. And before they can get into why they haven’t really agreed on very much when it comes to wedding planning, in walks Grace. I see why Isabel is pushing for “Mr. & Mrs.” because when Grace is around, Noah isn’t really thinking about Isabel. Isabel knows that too which is why she asks Grace who will be her plus one at the wedding. When Grace replies her daughter Sophia will be her date, she offers to pray for her in a condescending but yet not entirely confident tone…

Security Breach

With every episode, we’re getting closer to knowing why Grace really came to town. I think her main goal is to bring Uncle Mac down and prove that his actions led to Faith’s death and if things fall apart in the process so be it. In this episode, Grace approaches Noah about hacking into her uncle’s computer. Noah says it’s no problem as the security team had to do something similar when a church employee was thought to be downloading porn onto a computer…smh…Noah has a revelation for Grace as well. He tells her that after the wedding, he and Isabel are moving to Denver, Colorado.

Pre-Wedding Jitters

While Noah and Grace are getting their digital I SPY on, Lady Mae and Isabel walk the grounds of the Greenleaf estate. As the First Lady is paying for the wedding, she explains how lavish it will be. She says the cherry trees will be like a white tunnel of love. That sounds divine, doesn’t it? Despite the fact that Lady Mae is paying for the wedding, Isabel isn’t entirely sure that her wedding day will go as planned. She confesses to Lady Mae that she is worried that Noah “is still holding a torch for Grace,” particularly since they nearly married 20 years ago. Lady Mae, however, assures her that Noah and Grace are in the past and says that all men seem to be indecisive as the wedding day gets closer. She says, “All men, Bishop included, think as their wedding approaches, is she the one?” She concludes with, “You mark my words. Noah loves you.” Hmmm….Noah may love Isabel, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love Grace more…As they say, you never forget your first love…

Black Lives Matter

Just when I thought this episode would focus on Noah, Isabel & Grace with a side of Mac (which is already a full course meal), the town of Memphis becomes incensed when it is announced on television that David Nelson, the police officer who shot an unarmed, 16-year-old boy Kenneth Collins, will not face criminal charges. Calvary is blamed for having influence in the city as Nelson is a member of the megachurch. Of course the Bishop is none too happy about being brought into the controversy.

Televangelism

Still trying to convince his father that he is a worthy partner in ministry, Jacob convinces his father to take a meeting with the Christian television network executive. Rather than to convince the Bishop that more people need to hear of the gospel of Jesus Christ through the reach of television, he emphasizes the material wealth that can be gained. He says, “I never thought I would own a Jaguar, and now I have three.” That is such a despicable reason to get on television if you are supposed to be a true preacher of the gospel. To me, there is nothing wrong with wanting to have nice things, but things should not be the aim of a ministry on television or otherwise…Okay, off the soapbox and back to the Greenleaf recap…Curiously, the Bishop shuts down the executive with the words, “I will not the hawk the gospel like a ginsu knife” and then tells him to “Get out!” If only I believed the Bishop because I do believe that he has no problem hawking the gospel…Jacob is understandably puzzled about his father’s strong reaction…

Black Lives Matter v. Blue Lives Matter

After the city erupts following the announcement that no charges will be filed against David Nelson, Grace is concerned about his safety and goes to see him in his hotel room. He tells her that he plans to move far, far away to escape it all, but she tries to convince him that he needs to stay and be a part of healing that needs to happen in the city. He listens but tells her he will send her a postcard from Delaware. I know that’s right!

Pastor to Pastor

The Bishop ventures off of the gilded campus of Calvary and into the city to see a more humble pastor who has been publicly calling out the Bishop for his support of David Nelson. This pastor is involved in the Black Lives Matter movement and is showing hanging protest signs. But instead of squashing the situation, the pastor tells the Bishop that he will “long for the days when all I did was call you out.” Okay…what does that mean?

What Happens in Nashville

As Grace requested, Noah delivers the contents of Mac’s computer to her on a hard drive. She discovers that he had appointment in Nashville presumably at an abortion clinic. With this knowledge, Grace tries to get Danielle to tell the truth about what happened with her and Mac. Danielle still denies that anything happened until Grace tells she knows what happened in Nashville. Danielle then reveals how Mac came seduced her. He took her to school when her mother wasn’t available, brought them dinner, etc. Finally, Mac took to the church camp to teach her how to “fish” and then she comes up pregnant. They go to Nashville where the abortion is performed. She ask Grace, “Am I going to hell for killing my baby?” Danielle is also concerned that her revelation would put her mom’s scholarship that she is receiving from Calvary in jeopardy. She also tells Grace that she will come forward if she is not the only one. It seems that Mac targets the daughters of single parents…Faith wasn’t the daughter of a single parent, but her parents are obviously distracted by Calvary business…just sayin’…

After doing more digging, Grace realizes that many women/girls have received scholarships over the years courtesy of Mac. They are given out at an scholarship reception that Lady Mae holds each year. Grace confronts her assistant about a scholarship that her daughter received without having to go through the usual application process. The assistant realizes then Grace knows her daughter’s secret and when Grace asks her why she didn’t go after Mac, she says that Calvary is her church and, “the Bible says don’t look back.” Grace also realizes that is if she reveals the scholarship payoffs she will end up wrongly implicating the church when Mac is the sole culprit.

The Secret

So the Bishop and Lady Mae have an intimate discussion in their bathroom. I would guess that all discussions in the bathroom are intimate…LOL…Anywho, as the Bishop is brushing his teeth or dentures (I’m not sure), they fall out or something like that…Obviously, he is sick….Lady Mae asks him when he is going to tell the children what is going on him…Apparently, the real reason he doesn’t want to be on television has to do with some sort of illness…That’s all I’ve got at this point….

First Love

When Grace goes to Noah’s home to tell him what she found out after speaking with Danielle, she expresses remorse that Mac is the reason why they broke up all of those years ago. Noah tells Grace that he always thought she would end up with someone more exciting than him anyway, but Grace says that when she was with Noah, she always felt like “you were home to me.” So that line got to me. Very good one OWN! And just like that, their clothes fall off. LOL

Grace does the walk of shame the next day back up to the Greenleaf mansion as Noah lives on the property and hope that no one notices. Unfortunately, her archenemy Lady Mae is up and confronts her with the words, “You look like you’ve been rolled hard and put away wet.” And that’s a GREAT line OWN! I will have to remember that line…She also says, “You won’t be satisfied until you’ve burned this place to the ground.”

Sunday Mourning

So Noah and Grace sneak looks at each other as they travel through the parking lot to get to the church building. Noah is walking with Isabel while Grace is with Sofia. In the midst of that, David Nelson shows up, walks up to Grace and tells her that he decided to stay in town after all. Right then, the brother of Kenneth Collins approaches Officer Nelson and shoots him in front of everybody!!!

And that was THE END…

Yeah, that was A LOT for one episode…So I’m thinking that the title of this Greenleaf episode comes the gruesome story that Sophia is telling her mother about throughout the episode. Sophia tells her about a Levite in the book of Judges who cut his concubine into 12 pieces. Sophia was puzzled by such a story being in the Bible and I think Grace told her to read the whole book….I think….Also, I think the fact this story came from Judges is about Calvary being judged….

We will see…We will see…We will see…

Any thoughts?

Check out the confrontation between Grace and Lady Mae below…

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Greenleaf Recap Season 1 Episode 7: One Train May Hide Another…

mac

Hello World,

This week’s Greenleaf recap will focus on Robert “Mac” McCready, the general counsel of Greenleaf World Ministries and brother of Lady Mae Greenleaf as his inner workings were explored in this episode…

A little background before I jump in…Mac is on Grace’s hit list because she believes that he molested her sister Faith and the molestation was a contributing factor in her sister’s death although the rest of the family doesn’t seem to believe that Mac was molesting his niece…Now that you know that, we can move on…

It Was All a Dream…

This episode begins with Mac in his plush, modern high-rise apartment that was probably secured through tithes and love offerings. He is shown with a light-skinned black girl…I wonder who she is, but then he wakes up. So obviously he was dreaming about this pretty girl, who looks similar to Grace’s daughter’s Sophia…What is he doing dreaming about this young girl?

Anywho, once he wakes up, he gets dressed and heads downstairs to the lobby of his high-rise apartment complex where he sees this girl. Apparently, she lives in the building and is having a difficult time with her mother as she tells him that her mama is off her meds…Obviously, she feels comfortable in confiding in him for some reason….

Memphis Man of the Year…

Once he arrives at Calvary, we learn that he has been named “Memphis Man of the Year,” but while this accolade is a milestone in his career, federal auditors are in the building and are a threat to his standing. Obviously, this audit could be trouble for the Greenleafs, but Mac is trying to handle it. They request the minutes of deacon board meetings for the last three years! Simultaneously, Mac is also concerned about Charity’s new hire Carlton, the music director. He tells Charity that Carlton has filed lawsuits against previous employers and that he is concerned that Carlton may do the same thing at Calvary. However, Charity points out that Carlton filed those lawsuits because he was discriminated against due to his sexuality and how that won’t be a problem because everything is already out in the open. Mac is not convinced and determines they need to meet with Carlton.

Daddy Issues…

To his surprise and at the wrong time considering a camera crew will be arriving to highlight Mac for his award, Mac’s father, apparently a drunk, shows up on the Calvary campus. Mac’s father, who looks like a broke down Dick Gregory with a cane, waits for Mac in his office. His father congratulates him on being named “Memphis Man of the Year” as he read about in the local newspaper and tells him his mother would be proud of him if she was still alive. Mac barely responds except to put some money in his hand and get him out of the building. Apparently, Lady Mae’s father is not welcome for some reason.

Mac encounters Zora, Jacob’s daughter and Sophia, and they ask him questions about the validity of Jesus coming back from the dead and the existence of hell. Mac gives the answers you would expect to them, and Sophia says, “He doesn’t seem so bad.” Obviously, Grace has told her something about her great uncle.

Lady Mae also confronts her brother after she hears her father somehow got onto church grounds although he is not welcome. Mac assures her that he will take care of the issue and goes to see Noah Kendall, head of security, about the matter. Noah tells Mac that a new person on their security team was not aware that their father was not allowed on the Calvary campus. While in Noah’s office, Mac overhears Noah arguing with his fiancée Isabel about the cost of a wedding cake she wants to buy for their wedding. More on that later…

Speaking of daddy issues, Jacob is still trying to get back in the good graces of the Bishop after being removed from his post following his adultery revelation. Since Mac is a direct conduit to his father, Jacob meets with Mac to show him his business plan about getting his father back on television. As I said in last week’s recap, I wondered why his father hasn’t been on television before considering the success of his ministry. From Jacob’s conversation with Mac, it is apparent that Bishop Greenleaf has been on television before and something bad happened. Mac says the bishop “will never go on TV again.” Hmmm….I wonder what happened….Mac also gives Jacob a reality check despite the the fact that he presented a solid business proposal. He tells him now that Gigi is back, “there’s no way you’ll get reinstated.” Jacob questions Mac and says, “You’re still here.” So obviously, Mac did something that he could have been banished for but was kept on anyway….Maybe Grace is right about her unc.

There’s Something About That Name…

Although Mac is a somewhat agitated about the audit, he feels he is handling things until he shows up in the conference room with the minutes the auditors requested, but no one is there. Instead, he sees Grace’s business card on the table. Just her name is enough to get him riled up especially when he later discovers that the auditors are now requesting the personal tax returns of the Greenleafs for the last three years. They ask him to explain what are “love offerings” as the term appears several times on the minutes. Mac explains that love offerings are financial offerings that members bless the Greenleafs with above and beyond their usual tithes. The head auditor asks Mac if the Bishop has been reporting love offerings.

In the next scene, Mac stomps into Grace’s office and shouts, “You need to stay the hell out of business.” Grace is understandably confused about Mac’s anger and asks him to explain himself. He tells her what happened with the audit. She tells him that the auditors came to her and simply asked her if they had any programs for disabled vets. But Mac is not buying it. Obviously, their conflict has nothing to do with the audit, and his next words prove it. He says, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” But Grace tells him that she does indeed know and says her words so calmly even while he looks like he is about to blow up even when he is alone in his office afterward.

Flashing Lights…

Although Mac is amped enough to have a heart attack, he has to calm down because the camera crew has arrived and he is about to be interviewed about being “Memphis Man of the Year.” As expected, Mac says all of the right things in front of the cameras like giving credit to the Lord for his award and how young people should “read, study and stay in school” to achieve what he has achieved…

But after the cameras and lights are off, Bishop approaches Mac to have a private conversation with him in his office. (Aside, did you notice that Bishop’s new assistant is on the plump side and wears glasses?…obviously, she won’t be a temptation to Jacob like Alexa was…) Bishop is mad that he had to learn from the auditors that they are requesting his tax returns. He says, “When were you going to tell me? After they put me in prison.” So, up until this point, I wasn’t sure that the Bishop was a bad dude but this conversation has confirmed that the Bishop is not the upright man that my father, who is also a pastor, is. Oh well…He tells him that he needs to fix this issue and stop going all over town looking for people to save…Wonder what that means?

While Bishop is upset handing over tax returns, Lady Mae is incensed when her father has returned to Calvary again at the worst time. It looks like the “Memphis Man of the Year” reception is being held at the church because Mac is in a tux in this scene…The father has called Lady Mae, his daughter, a “high-yella whore.” Wow! Instead of just being drunk, Lady Mae’s father now has blood above his eyebrow. I wonder what happened. She says, “I cast you down in the name of almighty Jesus.” Mac tries to handle the situation by giving his father more money although Lady Mae tells him to not give him a cent.  After the father shuffles off with his wad, Grace stands there, staring at Mac, which is enough to get him all paranoid again.

In the midst of all of that, Mac calls Noah’s fiancée and tells her to order the $800 cake her and Noah were arguing about. He says the cake will be their wedding gift to them…It seems that he is always trying to find a way to buy loyalty…

Home Sweet Home…

After a long day at Calvary and the “Memphis Man of the Year” event, Mac returns home to see the young girl in the lobby. Apparently, she does not feel comfortable going to her place. This really grown man invites the young, forlorn, girl up to his place. Mac fixes himself some whiskey and gives the girl a non-alcoholic beverage initially. Mac tells her that he was once a disillusioned young person himself and even tried to commit suicide at 12 years old after his mother died on some train tracks. She was crossing the tracks in front of a train that was stopped, but she didn’t see the other train coming. Obviously, the title of this episode has to do with that incident.

Mac explains that the mother had a co-dependent relationship with him, and the train incident happened after he refuses to care for her in way that a child shouldn’t have to care for an adult. He says he told his mother that he had a girlfriend and wouldn’t be available to her in the same way. (Does this explain his pathology? Is this why he goes around town trying to save people like the Bishop said? Did his emotional growth stop at that age as a result, and that is why he is attracted to young girls? I don’t know. I’m no psychologist…) The girl, who seems suicidal herself, can relate to his feelings, and he agrees to give her “just a taste” of whiskey. The episode ends there….

So I’m convinced at this point that Grace is right about her Uncle Mac…

If you watched this episode, did I get this Greenleaf recap correct?

Below is a snippet of Mac’s office face0off with his niece Grace…

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

 

 

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The Tankards’ ‘Thicker Than Water’ Season 3 Returns on Bravo TONIGHT: My Interview With Ben & Jewel Tankard…

tankards

Hello World,

After you’ve celebrated the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with your family this Easter Sunday today, settle in tonight at 10 p.m. with some reality TV!  Bravo Media’s larger-than-life Tankard family returns bolder than ever when Season 3 of “Thicker Than Water” premieres. Leading the charge are Ben and Jewel Tankard with their self-proclaimed “Black Brady Bunch” which includes Brooklyn, Britney, Benji, Cyrene, Marcus, with his wife, Tish, and their newborn son Micah.

This season, preacher and patriarch, Ben faces the stark reality that the Tankard household has become an empty nest and also realizes there are deep emotional wounds that need to be healed within the family, mainly between him and his eldest daughter Brooklyn. Embracing a new chapter in her life, Jewel prepares to welcome her grandchild and launch her very own nationally syndicated television talk show while trying to reconnect with Cyrene, who went to her freshman year of college meek and mild, but reemerged as a certified wild child. Meanwhile, Britney, healthier than ever, is unable to shake the notion that a baby is what’s missing most in her life and embarks on a journey to make her dreams of motherhood come true while Benji and Shanira eagerly await the arrival of their first child. Marcus plans to expand his ministry into Nashville but can’t hide his frustration with his family’s adamant criticism of his wife’s parenting skills.

From an eye-opening girls trip to Jewel’s hometown of Detroit to a traumatizing secret haunting Cyrene, it’s a season of breakthrough and transformation that forces the family to embrace each other and move forward to a place of joy and love. See my interview with Ben & Jewel Tankard about Season 3 of “Thicker Than Water” below:

ben and jewel1. How do you like being empty nesters?

Ben: I love my kids, and now that they’re pretty much all out it’s a challenge trying to keep everybody engaged and connected with each other so we won’t be like ships passing in the night so we know a little bit more about each other than what we see about each other on social media.

Are there any things that you’re looking forward to doing now that you are empty nesters that maybe you couldn’t quite pursue when you had the hustle and bustle of everyone around you?

Ben: Me and mama we gettin’ a whole lot more sexy on. (Laughter) C’mon tell ‘em about it Jewel.

Jewel: (Laughter) Yes, it’s definitely a whole lot more freedom there. It’s a whole other level of playfulness and creativity that I’m really enjoying in our marriage. And for Ben and I both, we are able to spread our wings and really do things we weren’t able to do before. I had my own talk show (The Jewel Tankard Show) on Impact last year. It was the first season, and I got signed for a second season. It was a lot of fun. I got the chance to interview some people that we really love and admire like David and Tamela Mann, Phaedra Parks, Tameka Raymond and the list goes on. We also covered some real heartfelt issues like overcoming molestation. We had some really great topics and great people. I wouldn’t have been able to do all of that before because we didn’t want to be gone from the home so much.

Is there a talk show host example that you want to emulate?

Jewel: I’m sure a lot of people feel this way, but I would have to say I definitely love Oprah. I think Oprah has done a phenomenal job at starting as talk show host but then continuing to evolve. She started the Oprah show, then behind the scenes with Oprah, then Lifeclass and now she owns a network. And she continues to improve herself personally, emotionally and then do the same thing for her viewership, and it’s been a whole journey. She is so much more than a talk show host. And I can really relate to that. I have a passion for women being financially educated. I have a Millionairess Club, and what we have done is insert some of my core values where finances are concerned in the talk show. And that has been very powerful because it fits my brand and what I believe perfectly.

2. Also, during this season, Benji is getting ready to be a father for the first time. Do you feel that Benji is ready to be a father?

Jewel: Ben has grown tremendously. I definitely had a lot of concerns, but I think you guys are really going to have the opportunity to see his process. He is very vulnerable and transparent, and I think it will be relatable for a lot of  men.

3. And what are y’all concerned about as it relates to Tish’s s parenting skills?

Ben: (Laughter)  This is her first time around, and I’m just having a ball just watching how engaged she is. I’ve said to her, ‘You’re going to break the boy in half. Let him have some breathing room!’ It became a competition between her and Shanira because Shanira is a couch quarterback. She hasn’t had the baby yet, but she’s making all of these assessments and saying how much better she is going to be than Tish. And we try to referee this debate between these two first-time moms. It is hilarious. I cannot wait until you guys see it!

4. Now, tell me about this girls trip to Detroit and what was so eye-opening about it.

Jewel: I think the fact that I opened up to my girls about my past in areas that I had not. And I think I was concerned for many years, probably like a lot of parents are, ‘I don’t walk to talk about that,’ or ‘That’s not good.’ But you know what? It was my truth. And I think I had to do it in order for us to go to the next level in our relationship. And I think it gave them a lot of insight into me like, ‘So that’s what was going on with you back in the day,’ and ‘that’s why you are so passionate about certain things.’ We had conversations that I had never had with them before.

I guess you can’t give a preview of what you hadn’t told them before?

Jewel: (Laughter) You have to watch.

Ben: It’s so funny watching the kids challenge Jewel on her behavior when that’s the same thing she’s challenging them on right now. So they’re like,‘Mom, how can you tell us not to smoke weed when you used to smoke weed? Or what about this, you did it?’ It is so hilarious to watch Jewel squirm this season.

5. Ben, I understand that you recently lost 40 pounds. How did you lose this weight?

Ben: I had to make a decision to let the doughnuts go. (Laughter) The devil is a liar! I had to stop the bread and the sweets, the late night eating out. I’ve always been an athlete and into working out. I would get up and go to the gym and play ball with my buddies, but then I’d leave there and go eat hamburgers and hot dogs and a lot of bread so I had to let the bread go and the sweets. I’d like to be as healthy as long as possible so I can enjoy these grandchildren.

6. Do you talk about your weight loss in your new book The Full Tank Life: Fuel Your Dreams, Ignite Your Destiny?

Ben: Absolutely. The Full Tank Life is all about being the best that you can be in every area. There is a section on inspiration, spiritual maturity. It’s an all-around self-help book including health.

7. During Season 1, you were criticized for being all about bling bling or being a prosperity gospel teacher. Do people still respond to you and the show that way now that you are in Season 3?

Ben: Oftentimes, if people don’t know you, they will make an assessment about you. And there were some parts of my testimony that got exposed in Season 1 when I said, ‘I’ve been poor. Now I’m rich. Rich is better.’ What people did not hear is that I used to be poor, but God has blessed me through my career to become successful and now I can be a blessing to other people therefore rich is better for me. What they heard was rich people are better than poor people. And so it went viral. But after people kept watching us and seeing that I don’t make my money from my ministry, I make my money from my music and my career and my talent, they fell in love with us. I have to say from the first season although we had a lot of negativity, it still worked out for our best because people were so mad they wanted to tune in to see who the heck are these Tankards. And then they fell in love with the family.

Below is a video snippet of Season 3:

Season 3 of “Thicker Than Water” premieres TONIGHT, March 27th at 10pm ET/PT on Bravo.

Any thoughts?