The Ipecac is Prepared
Syrup of Ipecac is an emetic (an agent used to cause vomiting) made from the dried root of a plant called ipecacuanha, which is grown in Brazil. (source)
In my recent article Ergun Caner’s Crimes against God and the Global Community I presented evidence that Caner is a decade-spanning serial liar, a corrupt moral influence spewing racial slurs and sexist stereotypes, and an utterly incompetent Professor of Religion who babbles gibberish at his students under the pretext of speaking Arabic (or Turkish, or whatever). This is Ergun Caner, the President and Dean of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, appointed by the founder of Liberty University, the icon of weaponized politico-Christian fundamentalism, Jerry Falwell himself.
Ergun's High School Yearbook photos
Immediately after the 9/11 attacks, Ergun Caner opportunistically launched his career as an “insider expert on Muslim life and beliefs” by fraudulently claiming to be a formerly devout anti-American militant Muslim who was, until age 15, a member of the “Islamic Youth Jihad” in Turkey. The truth is that he grew up as a typical Midwestern American kid in Ohio and converted to Christianity as a young teenager before he could have acquired any meaningful “expertise” in Islam. He has no academic degrees relating to the field of Islamic Studies. He has written no peer-reviewed articles demonstrating competence in that field and has taken no classes under its acknowledged experts. And beyond all this, he has repeatedly demonstrated incompetence in the most elementary things of Islam. Authentic Muslims, and even non-Muslims with rudimentary knowledge of Islam (like myself) immediately recognize him as a fraud. And this fraud has been misinforming hundreds of thousands of evangelical Christians and politicians about the nature of the “Islamic threat” and how to deal with it. He poses, therefore, a real danger to the security and peace of the global community.
The Ipecac has its Intended Effect
Ergun Caner’s decade of deception, supported by months of cover-ups by Liberty University along with the backup choir of countless denials, diversions, and deceptions by “Christian” pastors, apologists, and laypeople distilled itself into an exceedingly potent dose of ipecac that caused me to vomit out last remnants of sectarian, exclusivist, polemical, political, fundamentalist Christianity from my soul. It was not, of course, their public display of coordinated corruption that caused my transformation, but it did play a central role by helping me take the final step to genuine spiritual freedom. There now is no ambiguity. My soul is whole, complete, and clean. I have nothing to do with these creatures of darkness. I have nothing to do with their lies or corruption. I have nothing to do with their false version of God and religion. I wrote a little about this transformation in my post Signs of Integrity Lost … and Integrity Found.
This is why I call it the “Ipecac of God.” The Bible says that God “works all things together for good” – and the effect of this ipecac is good for everyone – it brings people back to God by causing them to vomit out putrid lies. It is good for everyone, including Caner and his supporters who will find freedom only when they choose to repent and live lives transparently in the light of truth. Imagine what it must be like to be a public figure who needs to lie every day about something as simple as his childhood! Ergun needs freedom – he needs to take a dose of the ipecac God has prepared by distilling his life of lies into a dose so potent a single swallow is enough for anyone.
Why the Ipecac was Required
I needed to vomit because I had ingested poisonous lies masquerading as religious truth. I did not choose to “convert” to Christianity – I slowly “awoke” in 1992 to find that I believed in Christ after a long spiritual search and a few years of independently studying Scripture. But I had a strange anxiety – given that I had discovered, rather than chosen, faith in Christ I did not know what else I might “discover” and I feared that I might “become like Jerry Falwell” (my exact words) if I were not careful. And such is what began to happen over the next decade as I tried to “fit in” with other Christians. It was a subtle process that involved intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual forces. There is, of course, a strong social pressure to conform within Christianity since it is defined by conformation to a set of propositions. And internally, I felt a very intense sense of responsibility towards “God and Christianity” since I believed that he had given me the revelation of the Bible Wheel. I mistakenly thought the Bible Wheel validated traditional, conservative, fundamentalist Christian beliefs, and this led me to accept things that otherwise would have been repugnant to my soul. Furthermore, I was driven to look for fellowship from the conservative crowd because they were the only folks who would even consider the validity of the Bible Wheel – folks aligned with liberal Christianity dismissed it out of hand without a thought. Their irrational rejection really hurt my feelings and convinced me all the more that they simply hated God and his Word. So I was pushed away from the liberals and pulled in by the fundamentalists, and it was not long before I began to slide down that slippery slope into the cult of polemical fundamentalist exclusivist political Christianity such as that espoused by Jerry Falwell. It was the final remnants of these poisonous ideas that the ipecac helped me to spew out.
The Nuclear Weaponized Ipecac of God
Chain Reaction of Lies reacting with Truth
During the last few decades, the corruption of fundamentalist political Christianity has come ever closer to achieving critical mass. There has been a constant, though random, emission of Truth as one corrupt leader after another is exposed. But as yet, the lies had not been sufficiently compacted and compressed together to cause a self-sustaining chain reaction in which each newly exposed lie reacts with others in an exponential revelation of Truth. Critical mass has now been achieved, and Ergun Caner has triggered a self-sustaining chain reaction of one lie exposing ten others. Every deception calls forth ten more in its vain attempt to hide the truth, and now all the liars are exposed in a blazing fireball of revelation. This is “the light of a thousand suns” as the God of Truth openly declares unto those who lie in His Name: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
Critical mass was achieved because Caner, the President of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, chose to cover up his decade of deception. If he had chosen the Christian path of repentance, the chain reaction would have stopped right there. But no – Liberty University reacted to Caner’s lies with new lies of their own when they tried to protect him by doctoring his bio and again when they exonerated him, claiming to have held an “inquiry” that they later said “was not an inquiry or anything like that.” This scandal touches everyone associated with Liberty University and Ergun Caner, such as his brother Emir Caner, President of the Christian Truett-McConnell College, who is utterly complicit in Ergun’s crimes if for no other reason than his decade of silence concerning his brother’s lies. It is ironic that the motto on his site is “Truth is Immortal.” He is in process of receiving an object lesson on that fact. And the chain of lies was amplified again through prominent apologist John Ankerberg who has co-authored anti-Islamic books with Emir Caner. Ankerberg interviewed the Caner brothers on a number of his shows, and when Muslims posted an analysis of those interviews showing Caner’s errors, Ankerberg first edited out one the errors, and then filed phony “copyright infringement” complaints to YouTube. Liberty University likewise filed phony charges and successfully shut down the YouTube channel that did nothing wrong but expose truth. Ankerberg then falsely asserted on his Facebook page that the Muslims had altered the videos when in fact he is the guilty party! And then just today famous apologist Norm Geisler has publicly declared that he “looked into the matter, talking with Ergun and other principal parties at Liberty” and is “convinced that the charges are libelous.” LIBELOUS!?!? The charges are based on court documents and Caner’s own recorded testimony given from the pulpit before thousands of people! And then there are emails like this from “Christians” attacking those who dare speak the truth concerning Ergun Caner:
Message: Listen jackass if you are going to quote my facebook entry USE MY NAME and quote me in context! I’m nobody with nothing to lose. I don;t have to worry about what the SBC thinks like the gracious Dr. Caner does. My South Philly upbringing and my righteous indignation coupled with my detest for frauds like you would not hinder me in the LEAST from showing up at your next public appearance and sticking a boot in your arse. You sicken me, you harm the body, and you offend the Spirit of the God you claim to serve but are wholly unfamiliar with, except on dusty pages of endless technical theology that you have likely not ONCE seen in real, God-breathed action. Your veil is thin, my arrogant reformer friend. You should sign all your writings “Mrs. Turpin”
I could go on and on … but there is no need. The corruption has reached critical mass and Ergun Caner has triggered a self-sustaining chain reaction of one lie exposing ten others. Every deception calls forth ten more in its vain attempt to hide the truth, and now all the liars are exposed in a blazing fireball of revelation. This is “the light of a thousand suns” as the God of Truth openly declares unto those who lie in His Name: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
[I spotted these comments on another blog! – Jack]
Speaking of evangelical scandals and Liberty University in the same breath, readers can Google “Appendix F: Thou Shalt Not Steal” (line-by-line proof that THE Jerry Falwell’s 1981 “Fundamentalist Phenomenon” book was a huge plagiarism of George Dollar’s 1973 “History of Fundamentalism in America”!). Also Google “Thomas Ice (Bloopers).” Ice is a prof at LU whose “Ph.D” was “obtained” from a tiny Texas school that was fined by the state of Texas for illegally issuing degrees! When “Dr.” Ice reproduced in 1989 Margaret Macdonald’s short “pre-tribulation rapture” revelation of 1830 (Margaret originated this 180-year-old escapist endtime view which had made millionaires of Lindsey, LaHaye etc.!), he somehow left out 49 words when copying it – the same 49 words LaHaye left out in the same sections when a book of his reproduced it three years later! (LaHaye has been one of LU’s biggest donors.) Ice, BTW, also had the same distinctive copying errors Lindsey had when he had reproduced MM’s revelation in his 1983 book! Since Liberty University is one of the top promoters of the same fringe-British-originated pretrib rapture fantasy, interested readers can also Google “Famous Rapture Watchers,” “Pretrib Rapture Diehards,” “Pretrib Rapture Secrecy,” “Letter from Mrs. Billy Graham,” and “Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty” (documented plagiarism and other dishonesty since 1830 by some of the best known names in evangelicalism) – all uncovered by the author of the bestselling book “The Rapture Plot.” (Evangelicals should take some tranquilizers before reading the above!)
I agree about the corruptuion of poltical evangelical Christianity reaching critical mass. It is not just Caner. It is ingrained and has been going on for a long time…about 40 years. I was in a position to see the institutionalized corruption during the rise and climax of the seeker mega movement. This corruption has it’s roots in pride. They think they are doing great things for God. (As if they could) So, anything that gets in the way of their celebrity, growth, numbers, etc is evil and they are the anointed ones. Personally, I was shocked to witness the difference of these celebrities on stage and back stage. Over time, I became very cynical about Western Christianity being exposed as I was to this over a long period of time. It is cult of personality…and it beats anything done in the secular world. Think about how long Caner was able to lie publicly and get by with it. No one checked. Why? Institutionalized sin coupled with the cult of personality. We now believe we can decide what is sin. Nevermind the Holy Spirit. We have celebrities taking the place of the Holy Spirit for followers.
The internet is helping the purify the Bride of Christ. A few are seeing what is really behind the curtain and they are getting out of the false church with her celebrities.
Hey there Jack,
Thanks for the info – it will add some flames to the conflagration I’m sure. These liars and fakers have gotten away with their crimes for so many years because of the institutionalized control of information. With the Internet, that’s history and we are going to see some real changes in the world.
BTW – I Googled “Appendix F: Thou Shalt Not Steal” and found page after page of articles with your comment that I should Google that phrase! Not very helpful. But after surfing around, I finally found this page which contains the “Appendix F”:
http://poweredbychrist.homestead.com/files/articles/plagiarism.htm
And here is another informative page:
http://poweredbychrist.com/Pretrib_Rapture_Dishonesty.html
Thanks again for the info – it looks like it will be worth propagating … after I finish documenting the racism and sexism that characterizes the Southern Baptist religion.
Richard
Excellent points Lydia. Pride is indeed the root sin. It’s good to know others are seeing the truth.
We all know with perfect certainty that Liberty University would NEVER have corrected Caner if not subject to the outside force of the secular media. This in itself is perhaps the most damning revelation of this whole carnival.
Thanks for your comments. Please send me any info that might help in this battle for truth.
Richard
With the name of God, Peace be unto you.
Allahu Akbar! Richard another excellent blog entry, another excellent piece.
I started to become curious as to why Norman Geisler (knowing that he has more than his big toe in the water and buisness of anti-islamic polemic) why he would throw his lot in with Ergun Caner. As you mentioned above John Ankerberg has thrown his lot in.
He has co-authored books with Emir Caner. John Ankerberg also pushed Anis Shorrosh (a Christian debator of Muslims) on his show for years. Anis Shorrosh is now in prison for burning tax records.
So than why would Norman Geisler be rooting for Ergun Caner. I looked at the whole ‘Oh that’s easy he just hates James White and Calvinism theory’ and it seemed to be wanting. You see Norman Geisler is a smart man. He is very clever too. A man who teaches logic definitely would not walk on a bannana peeling in the way in which he recently done.
Than one name popped up ‘AbdulSaleeb’ you know the guy that Ergun Caner claimed to debate?
I have done a little digging here in this blog entry:
http://thegrandverbalizer19.blogspot.com/2010/05/norman-geisler-ergun-caner-rc-sproul.html
It seems that this ‘AbdulSaleeb’ has not only co-authored books with Norman Geisler but also with R.C Sproul.
Than what got my curiosity was that this AbdulSaleeb is considered a convert to Christianity from Islam in one testimony and than we hear that he is actually an Arab Christian all along.
The icing on the cake was finding an online written debate between AbdulSaleeb and Jeremy McAuliffe and than I started to check to see if anyone in the states knew this Jeremey McAuliffe (apparently a Christian convert to Islam) no one has heard of him.
I began to wonder if the whole AbdulSaleeb and Jeremy McAuliffe debate was ficticious.
In the interest of making this Ergun Caner situation of not looking like a witch hunt by Calvinist against Arminians it would be fair to investigate into this.
As Debbie has pointed out this Ergun Caner debacle is now having far reaching consequences.
Is AbdulSaleeb a code name or some kind of pet project used decietfully by Christian apologist (both Calvinist and Arminian) who have used this gimmick to push book sales?
I mean for AbdulSaleeb to have a testimony at answeringislam, have co authored a book with Geisler and R.C Sproul, and to have debated Ergun Caner it does make one wonder.
I am sincerely asking this without trying to be coy or antagonistic but are there elements in Christian mission field that believe it is ethically fine to use deceitful or semi-deceitful tactics to advance the cause of the Gospel as long as it ‘wins souls’?
I know that the Assmeblies of God have been accused for years for using ‘bait and switch’ tactics.
This whole situation does little to inspire confidence in an affirmative answer.
As-Salaamu Alaykum Jonathan,
That is a very intriguing theory – it deserves more research. Please keep me informed. I’ll be working on a post today about Geisler’s apparent mental breakdown. I can’t help but think that Geisler has simply LOST HIS MIND. Literally! His attempt to defend Caner is ludicrous in the extreme and looks like a pointless self-inflicted fatal head wound. Indeed, I think a good title for the post would be something like “Christian Sati: A Grieving Geisler Casts Himself into the Flames of Caner’s Funeral Pyre.”
And beyond this, Geisler’s statement that he spoke to the “principle parties at Liberty” indicates that this is another sham “inquiry” with a foregone conclusion. If noted Christian apologist and seminary President Norman Geisler can publicly declare that the PRINCIPLE PARTIES AT LIBERTY have once again exonerated Caner, why has Liberty failed to make their own public statement? Why are they pretending to continue an “inquiry?”
There’s much more to say. Thanks for your help.
May the peace of God be upon you,
Richard
I am truly disappointed in Dr. Caner and LU’s initial response. Elmer Towns is an embarrassment to the university for stating that Dr. Caner did not do anything immoral or unethical.
Dr. Caner did apologize on the internet, but then nullified it by saying he never intentionally misled anyone.
But the evidence from his own mouth says differently. Watching him speak from the videos on the internet and listening to audio tapes of sermons proves that he has said the following:
I was born in Istanbul, Turkey. He was not.
I was raised near the Turkey/Iran border. He was not.
I came to America in 1978. He did not.
I came to America through Brooklyn at age 13. He did not.
I was trained to do what the terrorists did on 9/11. He was not.
I was in the Islamic Youth Jihad until age 15. He was not.
I learned English by watching the Dukes of Hazard. He did not.
I spoke broken English. He did not.
I debated a specific Muslim in Nebraska. He did not.
I have debated Muslim leaders. He has not.
I have debated religious leaders of other religions. He has not.
His falsehoods revolve around three areas: when he came to America, where and how he was raised, and who he debated. This is not complicated. He has intentionally misled others in these three areas. The true facts are as follows:
He was born in Sweden in 1966.
He came to America before 1970.
He was raised in Columbus, Ohio.
He was educated in America.
He spoke fluent English.
His mother was Lutheran.
His father was Muslim.
His parents divorced when he was nine.
He was raised Muslim.
His father was active in a mosque.
He came to Christ around age 15.
His father disowned him.
He attended evangelical colleges and seminaries.
He had evangelistic encounters with people from other religions.
LU has taken action. They have corrected Ergun Caner’s bio. They have removed the inaccuracies. They removed when he came to America, mention of Turkey, and mention of his numerous debates in 40 states and 13 countries. They are investigating his background. But their previous statement by Towns is more embarrassing then Caner’s falsehoods.
Dr. Caner at the very least needs to apologize. He needs to state clearly and unequivocally that he misrepresented his background. We may assume that he did so to capitalize on his Muslim background in the wake of 9/11. The evidence is that E. Michael Caner became Ergun Mehmet Caner after 9/11, another falsehood.
The sad truth is that his actual testimony was sufficient enough. He could have said that being raised by a devout Sunni Muslim father gave him a unique perspective into the mind of the Muslim terrorists and on indoctrination. He didn’t have to lie. That is what is so sad.
But the more I think about this, he did have to lie. His understanding and presentation of the basics of Islam is woefully inadequate. In order to become an expert on Islam, he had to enhance his Muslim identity. But his attempts at explaining Islam would be akin to an ex-Christian making the following statements about Christianity:
A key verse for Christians is Bible 3:15.
The Lord’s Prayer, “The Lord is my shepherd,” was foundational to my prayer life.
The Eucharist is a depiction of how a believer is baptized into the body of Christ.
Before we listened to the sermon, we sang verses.
The Lord’s lunch is celebrated weekly or monthly in the churches.
Ergun does not know what he is talking about. If an ex-Christian stated the above, he would be laughed at. If he presented himself as an expert in Christianity, he would be soundly ridiculed. So the more I think about it, Ergun Caner had to lie in light of his abysmal knowledge of basic Islam. So there is a fourth area in which he lied – what he knew about Islam. Sad.
But then, here comes Norm Geisler and John Ankerberg to the rescue. Geisler claims that Caner has been libeled and slandered. Ankerberg claims that Caner’s testimony is completely true. Both claims are completely and utterly false. Caner has not bee libeled or slandered. He has been caught frabricating his background and knowledge of Islam. Caner’s testimony is so twisted that Ankerberg’s defense of Caner brings his own credibility into question. So is this what it means to be an apologist for Jesus Christ? Disregard the truth when lies have been uncovered? This is nothing but Christians acting badly for the sake of their brand.
Excellent summary. It is very important to have a brief, direct statement of the problem since the primary tactic of the Canerites is to hide the truth by distraction and diversion. The fact that NONE of Caner’s defenders have attempted any refutation of the primary facts of the case confirms the verdict indicated by the evidence.
R.A.,
The more I read, study, watch, and listen, the more saddened and disgusted I get. I thought Caner could keep his position; not any more.
Hi starstruck,
I agree completely. I was so disgusted by what I saw I likened Caner to ipecac which is used to induce vomiting. And it only gets worse as I watch his defenders descend into an abyss of madness as they actively deny the evidence and seek to suppress the truth. For me, it marks the end of any support of any form of organized religion, including Christianity.
Richard
I’m a bit late to this conversation but I’m at a point where I’m seriously questioning Christianity. My problem is that I’m so terrified of God Jesus and the evangelical fearporn that I’m too afraid to walk away. I’m terrified that I will be punished as the Bible says fear is the beginning of wisdom. Also that who God loves he chastises. I cannot accept that any longer in a world where innocents are killed, creatures are slaughtered and land is stolen and ruined so a wealthy few benefit, that there can possibly be any truth to the God the Bible thumpers promote. But I’m scared to walk away.
Hi Mary,
You are standing before open door. Look out at the blue sky. Smell the fresh air. Now look behind you. What do you see? A dungeon of minds twisted by fear, cowering before a god of their own imagination. How does it smell in there? Follow your nose.
Rose and I found that door when we finally asked ourselves “Why should we care what others think?” It didn’t take long before we were saying the kinds of things you just shared. We knew we were speaking truth, so what was there to fear? Any religion that suppresses truth with threats of damnation cannot itself be true. So we stepped through that door. It was the beginning of a whole new adventure.
The most important thing was that Rose and I had each other to talk to. We’ve been married for nearly 11 years and know each other pretty well, so we can dismiss bullshit with a knowing glance. I don’t know you, but I would like to. If you need to talk, don’t be shy. The door is open.