# Bowing Down To Mammon **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 30, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bowing-down-to-mammon/470324 "2008-10-30T21:17:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bowing-down-to-mammon/470324/1 "2008-10-30T21:17:26Z")
> [@](#): > > [Where’s Charlton Heston When You Need Him?](http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/10/wheres_charlton_heston_when_yo.php) > > Some Christian fanatics are concerned, quite reasonably, about the economy, and have chosen, quite absurdly, to try and correct the problem with prayer. So far, so typical, but then… well, they picked a peculiarly oblivious way to do it. They prayed before a statue of a golden bull on Wall Street… > > Trust me, this is one of those things in the Judeo-Christian heritage that never ends well. There’s this jealous god who does smitings. If not for the modern dress, the picture accompanying the article could be a scene from a remake of _The Ten Commandments_. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bowing-down-to-mammon/470324/2 "2008-10-30T21:23:59Z")
Goddamn. I can only laugh, I guess. This backwards, absurd, illogical superstition dominates our country. I haven’t religion-bashed in a long time but fuck . . . Morons. ---
**Author:** ![Jesus\_Harold\_Christ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f14d63/32.png) [@Jesus\_Harold\_Christ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jesus_Harold_Christ)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bowing-down-to-mammon/470324/3 "2008-10-30T21:27:25Z")
They are praying to the golden bull, but through it. ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bowing-down-to-mammon/470324/4 "2008-10-30T21:49:58Z")
Personally, I don’t think that God cares if I live in a mansion or in a shack - that’s not important to the state of my soul. But, for Pete’s sake, Christians - just once, will some of you stop and look at yourselves from an non-believer’s POV? Sheesh… …a golden calf. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bowing-down-to-mammon/470324/5 "2008-10-30T22:00:21Z")
> [@Jesus\_Harold\_Christ](#): > > They are praying to the golden bull, but through it. Golden bull as intercessor? ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bowing-down-to-mammon/470324/6 "2008-10-30T22:45:21Z")
Christians you say? Must not be familiar with the Bible. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bowing-down-to-mammon/470324/7 "2008-10-30T22:47:23Z")
“… but Bible readin’ is hard!” ---
**Author:** ![Some\_FNG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/48db29/32.png) [@Some\_FNG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_FNG)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bowing-down-to-mammon/470324/8 "2008-10-30T22:53:43Z")
You just have to love people who make a mocking parody of themselves so that we don’t have to. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bowing-down-to-mammon/470324/9 "2008-10-30T22:54:37Z")
I was about to offer a bet that this was just a silly internet rumor, since it seemed to be plastered all over the secular/progressive sites in a spirit of great mockularity. Classic satirical fake, thunk I. This is right up there with the [Landover Baptist Church](http://www.landoverbaptist.org/). But I saved myself some money by wandering over to the Christian Broadcasting Network site, and folks, unless some devious-minded irreligionist has hacked them, this event was for real: > [@The 700 Club](#): > > In January of this year, Cindy Jacobs was in a worship service when the Lord spoke to her, “Cindy, the strongman over America doesn’t live in Washington, DC – the strongman lives in New York City! Call My people to pray for the economy.” > > This word so shook Cindy; she knew she had to call the people of God to converge on New York City the week of October 29 for an emergency prayer rally to cry out against economic collapse in the midst of shaking. […] > > Many people are fasting and praying for the upcoming elections, Cindy says. We don’t want to let up in this final press, we need to P.U.S.H. (pray until something happens) to avert financial judgment. On September 29 last month, the US stock market went down 777 points in one day. Cindy says it was no coincidence that this happened on the first day of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. > > “This is so severe in the economic area because we are facing judgment from the actions, not only for our stance towards Israel, but our blatant sin against Him in passing laws such as the one allowing homosexual marriages,” Cindy said. > > NO MORE BUSINESS AS USUAL > > In early August in her prayer time Cindy heard the Lord say, “There will be no more business as usual.” > > Little did she know the scope of what this meant on a worldwide scale. God is on the move. She and many others have taken this as a major point of intercession. She believes that just as there came a time when God judged the gods of Egypt, He is now judging the god of mammon. Nations are standing on the cusp of history that will determine their course for generations to come. God is judging the ideologies of nations. He is moving to put the fear of the Lord not only on His church; but upon the nations of the world. > > For these and other reasons Cindy is calling for a Day of Prayer for the World’s Economies on Wednesday, October 29, 2008. They are calling for prayer for the stock markets, banks, and financial institutions of the world on the date the stock market crashed in 1929. They are meeting at the New York Stock Exchange, the Federal Reserve Bank, and its 12 principal branches around the US that day. > > “We are going to intercede at the site of the statue of the bull on Wall Street to ask God to begin a shift from the bull and bear markets to what we feel will be the ‘Lion’s Market,’ or God’s control over the economic systems,” she said. “While we do not have the full revelation of all this will entail, we do know that without intercession, economies will crumble.” > > Cindy is encouraging prayer groups to intercede for banks and financial institutions in your area. Cindy says each of us has to be accountable to the Lord. > > “Don’t think you’re going to be in sin and that God will take care of you in these hard economic times. Holiness is key,” Cindy said. Each of us has a part to play and should not think that God will indiscriminately bless us without us dealing with personal areas that are wrong. We must repent of any misuse of money, think before we spend, get out of debt, etc., and allow God to do a course correction for us. 😕 “ **Lion’s** Market”? Is this a Narnia reference, or is there some evangelical tradition of zoomorphizing the Christian God as a lion that I’m not familiar with? ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bowing-down-to-mammon/470324/10 "2008-10-30T23:03:04Z")
To be fair, they are praying at the site of the bull, rather than to it. And that there’s a golden bull there seems to be incidental. It’s just a really, really unfortunate connection. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bowing-down-to-mammon/470324/11 "2008-10-30T23:15:17Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > To be fair, they are praying at the site of the bull, rather than to it. And that there’s a golden bull there seems to be incidental. It’s just a really, really unfortunate connection. They look to be laying hands on the bull whilst praying though. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bowing-down-to-mammon/470324/12 "2008-10-30T23:28:02Z")
> [@Revenant Threshold](#): > > And that there’s a golden bull there seems to be incidental. Well, not quite: the event’s organizer seems to have explicitly specified that they should meet and pray at the site of the bull statue. Yes, I agree that the unfortunate resemblance to the golden calf in Exodus was surely not what they meant to evoke, but I’m really astounded that it didn’t seem to dawn on anybody that public prayer event + statue of bovine livestock = very negative connotations. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bowing-down-to-mammon/470324/13 "2008-10-30T23:32:09Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > 😕 “ **Lion’s** Market”? Is this a Narnia reference, or is there some evangelical tradition of zoomorphizing the Christian God as a lion that I’m not familiar with? One of the titles of Jesus is “Lion of the Tribe of Judah”. I would imagine it references that. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bowing-down-to-mammon/470324/14 "2008-10-31T02:04:32Z")
I saw this shortly before I left work. I work only a few blocks from the bull; I _knew_ I should have checked it out on the way home. Damn. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bowing-down-to-mammon/470324/15 "2008-10-31T02:06:20Z")
There hasn’t been a bull worth bowing down to since Michael Jordan retired. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bowing-down-to-mammon/470324/16 "2008-10-31T02:44:26Z")
Wally Tango Foxtrot? Don’t - But! Oh, for the love of little green monkeys. I want to laugh at this, but I’m so stressed, it’s just not working. _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bowing-down-to-mammon/470324/17 "2008-10-31T02:48:08Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > This backwards, absurd, illogical superstition I think most of us, believer and nonbeliever in conventional religion alike, can agree that this sort of ritual evocation of the Money Fairy is indeed backwards, absurd, illogical superstition. Basically, it’s treating God like a genie from an Arabian Nights story. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bowing-down-to-mammon/470324/18 "2008-10-31T02:58:02Z")
“Get your money changed! Right here in the temple!” ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bowing-down-to-mammon/470324/19 "2008-10-31T04:43:00Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > I think most of us, believer and nonbeliever in conventional religion alike, can agree that this sort of ritual evocation of the Money Fairy is indeed backwards, absurd, illogical superstition. > > Basically, it’s treating God like a genie from an Arabian Nights story. “Spirit binding” is the correct term, I believe. Never made much sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bowing-down-to-mammon/470324/20 "2008-10-31T04:45:29Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > “Spirit binding” is the correct term, I believe. Never made much sense to me. I couldn’t tell you whether it’s the right term or not. But it’s distressingly common. Just how many of those “Send this prayer on to six people within ten minutes and your prayer will come true!” emails have you gotten? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bowing-down-to-mammon/470324.md?page=2)