When I read that the latest persecution of the rightwing Christian involved Starbucks changing their cups to red for the holiday season, I thought that the War on Christmas had officially hit rock bottom.
The MSM jumped all over the story about a video from a "pastor" saying the red cups Starbucks is using for the holiday season aren't Christmas enough and that Starbucks literally "hates Jesus". Video goes viral and rightwing is outraged. This whole thing is beyond stupid, even for them.
Are you guys REALLY upset over the color of a cardboard cup? If the color red upsets you so much, wouldn't you logically be more upset with every other franchise out there that isn't even bothering to change their damn cup color for the holidays? Ya know, because it's freaking expensive and stupid!? Besides, all of the past Starbucks holiday cup designs have been pretty darn secular—so why are you pissed now?
It wasn't until I finally read one of the articles that I came across the name of the man who spawned this latest freak-out: Joshua Feuerstein. In none of the countless articles does the MSM bother to discuss who this clown is. So allow me:
Joshua Feuerstein is a self-described evangelist and "social-media personality". I recognized his name because he is the same asshat who harassed one of my local bakeries (and illegally recorded the phone call) because they refused to fill a fake order for an anti-gay cake. His followers bombarded their Facebook site with Ben Carson-like yarns of their supposed "bad experiences" with the bakery. Astoundingly, all of these reviews happened immediately after the date Joshua posted his hate-filled video. The bakery had to temporarily close in response to the harassment, which included death threats.
In response, I asked people in this community to fight back. You did. The bakery raised needed cash to offset their losses, got a lot of Likes on their Facebook page to offset Joshua's minions, and a boatload of new customers. (The owner also made this 5-tier delicious smack down.)
As despicable as this guy was, I took him at his word that he was just a preacher with an obvious persecution complex. However, I have since learned that Feuerstein is much worse than that: he's a con artist.
First off, he is an entitled brat who, according to this video, apparently lives quite well sponging off of his mega-rich parents. Yet he is not above e-begging his duped followers to raise money for a $20,000 camera that he claimed he absolutely had to have to make YouTube videos. His followers, unable to think of anything better to donate to, gladly gave him the money and Joshua utterly ****** thanked them. Yet his videos since he has raised the funds, from the bakery harassment video to his latest red cup diatribe, seem to have been shot on a cellphone. Peoplerightfully asked where the camera was that he promised to buy. He was even confronted directly and admitted he didn't buy it after all. Meanwhile, his social media is filled with pictures of outrageously expensive shoes, jewlery and watches. I mean VERY Expensive Watches.
On his site, you can buy T-shirts, DVDs, and even apparently become a monthly "partner" where he asks that you give him 50 dollars a month so he can supposedly stop people from committing suicide. I have no idea what kind of suicide prevention requires a monthly installment plan, but then again, I'm not a con-man.
None of the articles I've seen mention any of this, but instead take his nonsensical rant at face value and allow him a ton of exposure as some sort of representative of the discord among Christians today. It is not real. I don't buy for a second that a man like him was driven bonkers over a stupid red cup. What he saw was an opportunity to gin up the faux outrage machine and grow his pool of poor suckers, while the media obliged without the slightest insight into his past.
I get very sick of the media's complicity. In my own neighborhood last year, news channels swarmed at Carillon Elementary where a child was supposedly told she was not allowed to pray. Most of the media reported it breathlessly as such. The man who "broke the story" was Todd Starnes. No one witnessed the incident. The man whose child this happened to? Marcos Perez, who was in charge of promoting Todd Starnes' latest book that coincidentally was on the imaginary assault on Christianity.
To be sure, there is a very real threat to Christianity. Yet it is not atheists, homosexuals, Muslims, or even red paper cups that threaten Christianity.
It is shysters.
People with no soul who prey on Christian followers and rob them financially and spiritually not only hurt their flock, but give all religion a bad name by making it unpalatable for so many who see things like this and equate those seeking strength through faith as paranoid and stupid.
Want to know why religion is on the decline, Joshua? Look in the mirror. No man of faith would ever want to face the afterlife after scamming susceptible followers in Jesus' name. I sure as hell wouldn't want to be in your shoes, and not just because they are so damn ugly.
The backlash Joshua is getting isn't an attack on Christianity, as he would have you believe, but a defense of it. There is a facebook page called Exposing Joshua Fraudstein that doesn't have many nice things to say about him. Here I learned there is a real charity for Christians who face real persecution called Voice of the Martyrs. However, may we recommend that you donate directly to them, as opposed to raising money off their name and saying you will give them money.
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