Call now! Operators are standing by!

{Posted at Bene Diction Blogs On April 18, 2011] If evangelist Faytene Grasseschi (nee Faytene Kryskow) ever decides to leave the sawdust trail, she could make a good living helping with pledge drives on PBS television.

I say this because a few weeks ago GOD TV had a Regional Missions Week telethon style fundraiser on the channel, which is available on cable and the Internet throughout the world. "Faytene from Canada" was asked to participate and I would perhaps suggest that she is polishing her pitch.

Faytene's time at the fundraiser--she was on for about 25 minutes, it looks like--was been put in the 'net, on demand, just a few days ago.

You can watch the whole thing here She starts talking at 5:32. Here are some things that stood out for me.

"I love GOD TV!" she says "I love everything about GOD TV!" Well, you'd expect this, considering her appearance, but she's letting us know that she is about to swing into things with gusto...

"Go to the phones!. Give the best seed that you can give," she adds. Later on, discussing the good things that will happen if you give to GOD TV , it seems that she may have been reading one of Oral Robert's old books on the "Seed faith concept". Namely, that if you don't give anything, you won't receive any blessing.

She then talks about her years raising up a "movement of revival and reformation in my own nation in Canada." It was hard, as she had an income of $300-500 per month as a missionary, with $400 going to rent.

This led to a problem when she was led to do The Cry events, which she calls unnamed "solemn assemblies" The budget for her first CRY? CRY? "About $180,000"

"We didn't really have this", she says, holding up hands and moving her fingers in the universal hand signal for money.

What did God tell her to do, she says? God told her to "plant a seed" by giving away money that commeon sense would say that she needed to live on. "If you will begin to sow a seed out of your need," Faytene quotes "God" as saying, "watch what I will begin to do."

"We sowed $50 and $100 came back", Faytene says, baiting the hook, "We sowed that $100, $500 came back."

The CRY event wound up being entirely paid for, Faytene says. "God loves giving. He loves a cheerful giver, we can't outgive God!"

She confidently launches into an account of how she started to build a relationship with GOD TV a few years ago.

GOD TV she relates, was excited about the idea of The CRY. "We were so humbled," she adds. "Right off the bat, I noticed their servants' hearts, their servants' spirits. You know, they didn't ask for anything from us. And we didn't have anything to give..." GOD TV promised to do it "for free', she said, emphasizing the GOD TV crew's desire not to be kept in swank hotels and such.

Therefore, Faytene reasoned, "This ministry [GOD TV] was legit...it was authentic".

A few months later, She then starts to talk about the run-up to The Cry Vancouver in 2009. Oddly, although the cites the need to have it before "the Olympics" she mentions that it was in "Vancouver" only incidentally.

She talked to GOD TV to see if they wanted to show The Cry Vancouver. "We'd love to," Faytene quotes them as saying, "but the money just isn't there right now..."

So, Faytene and her leaders went to pray about it. They were then told, she says, by the "Holy Spirit", "It is not right for GOD TV to carry this burden alone," the Holy Spirit reportedly said to the group.

[Perhaps the Holy Spirit was unable to get enough extra money to GOD TV so they wouldn't have to worry about this?]

This leads her to mention how GOD TV fits into her eschatology. "This is an end-time...this is one of the significant wineskins that god has raised up for a great end-time move in the nations in the Earth..."

GOD TV made an offer that Faytene and her friends need only to cover "the production costs" to air the event. So The CRY Vancouver started to work their contacts.

But, "God" reportedly said to Faytene. There was something better than broadcasting the prayers, worship and discussion of issues from Lumberman's Arch in Vancouver.

Said "God", according to Faytene "Even if nobody agrees in prayer, even if nobody watches this [Internet] stream...even if nobody prays the Voice of the Lord will begin to challenge principalities and powers...it is important that the word of the lord is decreed in power..."

She cites Ephesians 2.2, which refers to Satan being the "prince of the power of the air".

"Sowing into" GOD TV will do this too, she added.

This is a dominionist idea, that what is important it to not pray, witness, or worship, but to take authority.

If GOD TV was hoping to be quiet about their dominionism, she just let the cat out of the bag.

(She goes on in the same vein for a bit...)

"This is a [working] together movement," Faytene says. "And that is why you need to go to your phones right now..." (Operators are standing by! ;) )

She then goes on to say at about the 18 minue mark that The Cry Vancouver caused a "15-20" percent shift" in the polls on the day of the event . Well, she was citing this on the first night of The Cry, as I reported in my post, as having already happened!

Among several events that she attributes to The Cry Vancouver is Stephen Harper's remark that he cares more about what "God" will say about his time in power than the history books. [This would be before Mr. Harper said that his government would never reopen th topics of gay marriage and abortion.]

She spends the rest of her time praising GOD TV and saying why you should give to the channel. After the gave to GOD TV, three days later, they got a cheque for $10,000. [Which she says "paid for our wedding". *whistle* An expensive wedding, perhaps?]

Now, after hearng her explain how swell GOD TV is,, let's go back and read about the first night of The Cry Vancouver, as I reported it back then. I'm adding emphasis:

Back to Friday [the first night of the event], where Faytene Kryskow is preparing to take up the offering after implying that past Crys were a big success.

In the midst of her muddle, Kryskow made what I thought was a very good point. “If this is what our faith, and our engagement and our fasting and our sacrifice and our unity and our focus…” she said. ‘You know, if this is what it triggers in the spirit realm, then what does our apathy, our lack of engagement, disunity and go on and on, cost?”

She pointed to the “unseen” behind the scenes good work of the events and noted that all of the worship performers and speakers had paid their own way in.

After these good, melodic, notes, Kryskow proceeded to go off tune.

“It costs. We need a big offering is what I’m saying. We need a big offering or I’m selling the house,” she said.

I gather that Kryskow has been taking marketing lessons from the National Lampoon.

She added that something special might happen after the offering was collected. “We see this over and over throughout Scripture where everytime there’s a radical, extreme offering, what happened? The glory [of God] fell.”

Too bad that we in the audience were so cheap, I guess.

Faytene, I'd like to remind, has been a master of the hard sell too.

And although GOD TV did gve them a deal, they did seem to want cash on the barrelhead. "I don't want to sell my house" implies a mafia-loan level of urgency.

I do believe in giving and generosity. But people should be led to give out of a burden to help others and show love and mercy. Without expecting anything in return.

Idealistic, I know. But hopefully the sort of spirit that Faytene can show next time she appears on TV to pass the hat.