Churches 'On Fire' Over 'Marketing Of Evil'

Churches 'on fire' over 'marketing of evil' 'Jolted me awake just as surely as someone bursting in my bedroom'

It's one of America's most talked-about and controversial culture-war books, but David Kupelian's "The Marketing of Evil" has recently been lighting a fire in one place that many believe really needs it – the nation's churches. From small-town churches and prayer groups to one of America's largest Presbyterian congregations, Christian leaders and laymen are buying the book, sometimes by the case. Now in its 12th printing, "The Marketing of Evil"– subtitled "How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised as Freedom" – has been widely acclaimed for exposing the secretive ways evil has been foisted on modern America. Documenting the brilliant marketing techniques commonly employed to "package, perfume and gift-wrap" destructive behaviors and beliefs to make them appear good, Kupelian even includes a major chapter on why Christians have been as vulnerable as everyone else to the "marketers of evil." Leading pastors, rabbis, churches and religious groups have been sharing it with their flocks, and – in many cases – saying they've been profoundly impacted. "The book jolted me awake just as surely as someone bursting in my bedroom and shouting, 'Your house is on fire!'" said Pastor Claude T. Stauffer of Calvary Chapel of Hope in Long Island, N.Y. A member of his congregation approached him, Stauffer recalls, and "told me that as a pastor I needed to read that book. He was serious – so serious in fact that he said the Lord put it on his heart to purchase enough of the books to give one to every person in our church." Stauffer read it carefully from cover to cover. "The book and its message took hold of me in a profound way," the New York pastor said later. "When the books were offered to the congregation they eagerly received them. In a few days we ran out of books and had to place a second order. People are reading the book and sharing it with others. The Lord is using that book to open eyes and hearts." Click here to get "The Essentials Bundle". Calling "The Marketing of Evil" a "classic, critically important book to understand the age in which we live," Stauffer says comments from his congregation have been uniformly positive, including one member who said: "My son who's 15 doesn't like to read. He never reads anything. But he can't put this book down." Another minister who has been sharing Kupelian's book with his flock is R.S. Brewer, pastor of the Gilbert Independent Baptist Church in Gilbert, Ariz. "Before I finished half of the book, I felt the leadership of my church should read it also," Brewer said. "I ordered enough books to give to those I felt would, or should, read it. It was obvious to me the author of 'The Marketing of Evil' had discernment, above his peers, that could have only come from God and His Word." Asking his flock to "read chapter 10 first" – the one on today's Christian churches – Brewer gave out copies of the book "on Wednesday night after our Bible study." By Sunday morning, he said, "I had some agitated children of God who had not only read chapter 10, but had finished the book and passed it on to their loved ones. One of my prayer warriors, who is retired Navy and a real servant of God, as well as an America-loving patriot, grabbed my arm as tears began to well up in his eyes and said, 'Pastor, I cannot believe they have done this, and I let them.'" "What 'The Marketing Of Evil' has done," said Brewer, "like a sermon from Jonathan Edwards or Charles Finney, is to turn the light of Truth on the corruption and decay, that we who name the name of Christ, might realize what we have failed to see, and failed to act upon. The cure is not political – it is spiritual! David Kupelian has been used of God to expose the corruption that we have ignored, or been blinded to for too long." Undoubtedly the biggest single church to share "The Marketing of Evil" with its congregation has been that of the late D. James Kennedy, who before his death was the world's best-known and most influential Presbyterian minister as founder of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Calling "The Marketing of Evil" a "powerful new book that I wish every Christian in America could read," Kennedy took the dramatic step of printing 15,000 paperback copies – with "Special Coral Ridge Ministries Edition" on the front cover – and sent a copy to thousands of financial supporters. D. James Kennedy In his special introduction to the ministry's paperback edition of "The Marketing of Evil," Kennedy wrote: This is a remarkable book. Here, between two covers, author David Kupelian dissects and exposes the brilliant and malignant techniques employed by merchants of evil who "sell us corruption disguised as freedom." The effort to change America's mind on issues like abortion, homosexuality, church-state separation, and more is not a happenstance undertaking. Instead, as Kupelian shows, it is a well-thought-out strategic campaign that uses the methods of Madison Avenue to market rank lies. But the good news is that by God's grace, the truth will eventually win out, and Kupelian's important and groundbreaking book makes enormous progress toward that end. It brings into the light these works of darkness for all to see. Other national ministries as well as Christian education organizations have also adopted "The Marketing of Evil" as a key tool of ministry. In fact, as Tonya Lee, director of development for There's Hope America puts it: "'The Marketing of Evil' is more than a book; it is a tool from which we can know how to combat the secular agenda we've tolerated for far too long." Also also available as an audiobook on four CDs American Vision has also long promoted "The Marketing of Evil." The organization's founder, author Gary DeMar, calls "The Marketing of Evil" "one of the best books I've read in a long time on what's really going on and what we can do about it." Other Christian and Jewish leaders have extolled the book and its ability to make plain and understandable the hidden tactics being used to negatively transform America. Among them are: Hal Lindsey, author of 20 books including the mega-bestseller "The Late, Great Planet Earth":"David Kupelian's book is like a giant x-ray machine that exposes the atheistic, secular left's brilliant marketing campaigns aimed at seducing America away from its founding Judeo-Christian faith. If you want to know how such a thoroughly decent country as America could go so wrong so fast, you simply have to read 'The Marketing of Evil.'" Rabbi Daniel Lapin, founder of the American Alliance of Jews & Christians:"Over just a few years, life in America has become indescribably more squalid, expensive, and dangerous. Like the dazzling disclosures in the final page of a gripping whodunit or the fascinating revelation of a magician's secrets, 'The Marketing of Evil' irresistibly exposes how it was done. It will elicit an involuntary 'Aha!' from you as you discover who did it, and your soul will soar with optimism as you discover the only way we can undo it. In year to come Americans will acknowledge a debt of gratitude to David Kupelian for his honesty, courage, and laser-like insight in this must-read book." Dr. Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission:"David Kupelian's new book 'The Marketing of Evil' is brilliant! He combines superb common sense (that is so rare in our society) with the important biblical command to expose 'the fruitless deeds of darkness' (Ephesians 5:11). By doing so, he breaks the spell of the carefully marketing lies that are destroying our civilization, and sets the stage for revival and reformation." Hundreds of reviews on Amazon.com attest to the book's powerful influence on readers: "It will affect me forever. This is perhaps the best and most freeing book I have ever read on the popular culture at large. It rings true at every level, and has changed the way I view things in the most freeing and encouraging way!! ... An absolute masterpiece!!" "Opening this book is like turning on the Sun. ... Mr. David Kupelian has written a remarkable book that reveals how the American public has been taken down the slippery slope of moral relativism."   "I finished "The Marketing of Evil" over a month ago. It absolutely changed my life."   "Prepare to see your world with new eyes!"   "This book has put a powerful voice to many things that truth-loving people in America have felt in their spirits for a long, long time. ... I like my medicine straight and my truth even straighter, and this book delivers, with no apologies or flinching. ... I for one am forever changed." Meanwhile, Pastor Claude Stauffer of Long Island, who co-hosted a series of hour-long radio interviews with Kupelian in New York, said simply: "I encourage every American and especially every Christian to read 'The Marketing of Evil.' First you won't be able to put it down. Then you won't be able to remain seated any longer. Maybe, just maybe," he adds, "this is what the Lord wants to use in our nation and in our churches so that instead of being burned down, we will burn bright with a righteous flame of revival."