How Anti-Gay Ministries Make Money: They Take It From Children

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on August 23, 2011. For unknown technical reasons (we assume) it was unpublished and we are re-publishing it so it is accessible.  Unfortunately, the video is no longer available. If anyone can locate a mirror of the video, please let us know.

Earlier today we posted a video of anti-gay preacher Damon Thompson screaming to a crowd of hundreds of children, “You may think you were born gay but you cannot be born again gay!” as he, no doubt, terrorized the ones who really were born gay — and you and I know there had to be several in that room. Now, we have more evidence from the same event, called, “The Ramp,” of how they make their money: they force it from the wallets of children. Listen as this minister, founder of The Ramp, Karen Wheaton, actually asks these children — and they are children — to give one thousand dollars (you can write a check!) to sustain “the Lord’s ministry.” Trust me, God doesn’t need your money — or theirs.

Wheaton says, “We’re not just going to offer the Lord that which costs us nothing,” then says, “it’s your duty to turn back around and give back.” Wheaton also claims “offering is worship,” and, just like an armed robber, keeps saying, “keep your hands up, keep your hands up.”

The Ramp, via its website, says it “is a place of awakening in Hamilton, Alabama, where hundreds gather each month from across the nation and world to pursue the real Jesus. We’re loud. We’re aggressive. We hope to jolt the complacent out of stupor and into the reality of God. Our mission is to awaken a generation out of spiritual death and religious complacency, calling them to their individual purpose and corporate responsibility as an offensive army imposing the kingdom of God. Although youth and young adults primarily attend, the Ramp is not just a youth thing; it’s a hunger thing. It’s an awakening thing – it’s for all those in need of an awakening whose desire is to then turn and awaken others.”

Wheaton actually promotes the fact that she worked at the now-defunct and thoroughly discredited televangelism center, the PTL Club. That’s PTL, as in Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker.

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. What did God say about apples?