Last Friday Ergun Caner spoke briefly at the "Values Voters Summit" of the Family Research Council held in Washington, D.C. He was one of about 39 speakers at the 3-day event. He carefully described himself as "Turkish, born in Sweden, immigrant, Yankee".Below is the video of Caner's speech.
Caner used many of his same jokes, and had the religious right yuckin' it up at his cracks about him thinking a possum was a giant rat (common mistake), that he was fooled into snipe hunting by his church, how Baptists think chicken is the gospel bird, how little he understands women and how his North Carolina church played "torture the immigrant Yankee".
His message to the values voters was that as they stand up for their convictions in the political arena they should be like Stephen, willing to be persecuted for their faith. He used an alliteration to describe what they can expect: they are appointed, annointed, and armed by God, but they can expect to be abused and attacked for their views.
Caner told his audience their critics "will mock you, and stalk you on Twitter." Really? Values voters will be "mocked", and "stalked on Twitter"? Why would they be stalked on Twitter? How is someone stalked on Twitter? Or is he referring to his troubles earlier this year, that he like Stephen was persecuted for the gospel?
But the good news is there was no introduction as "Ergun Mi'Kael Giovanni Mehmet Janel", no reference at all to him living in Beirut or being trained in Jihad or learning about American culture through Turkish television. Not even a reference to the mysterious "Possum Kill, North Carolina" or his many debates all over the world. So he is doing better, progress is made. But he still makes claims about how "I lost my family, I lost my father, lost my home, lost my culture" in reference to his Christian conversion.
Best of all, at the end, he didn't refer to himself as a "towel head" or "sand nigger" as he customarily did on the evangelical circuit, but this time he closed with "Thank you for reaching a little punk like me. Thank you for loving the unlovable."
more cover-up and more of Liberty spotlighting him for another position somewhere else either in a higher learning institute or church.
ReplyDeleteHow can anyone even begin to take him seriously...
ReplyDeleteSince I am a donor to the Hertiage
ReplyDeleteFoundation, I am writing them today about Caner and giving them all the links concerning his long time career profiting as a liar. And then I will ask them about Liberties initial reaction.
I think I will pull my donations until they distance themselves from Liberty.
I, for one, am not willing to act like Caner did nothing wrong and sweep it under the rug. He is an unrepentant liar.
Why would Liberty allow him to represent them?
Embarrassed and Just shaking my head....what else can you say.
ReplyDeleteI quit!
Dr Who, when Aenda 21 is breatning down on your family are you going to quit. If you dont know what agenda 21 I pray you find out
ReplyDelete"Turkish, born in Sweden, immigrant to the United States, Yankee." No mention of when he came to the U.S., living in Brooklyn, when, where, or how he learned English, or any of the other tales he's told in the past. So he's keeping it vague now. He's learned something from all this.
ReplyDeleteThen he says he lost his father, lost his family, and lost his home. He's still lying! His parents had been divorced for several years, and he and his brothers lived with their mother. She wasn't Muslim and according to the divorce papers tried to keep Ergun and his brothers from being raised Muslim. Did she kick them out? I'll buy that he may have lost what relationship he had with his father, if it still amounted to much by then, but he did not lose his family, and he certainly didn't lose his home!
Oh... my... Oprah! Did he really compare himself to Stephen?
He really beats up on the "critics" in the second half. I couldn't help but think he was speaking much more about his critics than his audience's potential critics. He said if you stand for what's right (like he does?) you'll be appointed by God, anointed by God, armed by God, and abused and attacked by critics. (I don't guess "accountable" is part of the alliteration.) He mentioned his former "antagonism and animosity." Sounds like to me those are still issues he struggles with. Not to mention "arrogance." Did you see how angry (add "anger" to the A-list) he appeared when he was talking about being attacked, abused, and "stalked on Twitter"? Projecting much?
Why does he always say he's Turkish and talk about "my people"? Define "my people." He's half Turkish. What about his mother? Isn't she Swedish? If he'd just acknowledge that he's half Swedish he'd have even more material for his comedy routine. "I'm half Turkish and half Swedish. We ate meatballs three times a day seven days a week. We concocted more permutations of meatballs than southerners have chicken." {rimshot}
ReplyDeleteBut why only acknowledge his Turkish heritage? That's like Obama saying he's black. No, he's half black and half white. With Obama it's as if the white half doesn't count. Same with Ergun and his Swedish half. All just part of the image, I guess. Ergun to the mostly white pew-warmers and (now) political crowds, "I'm not like you. I thought you hated me." (pity card) Obama to black people... "I am one of you." (race card) If either acknowledges his European ancestry will his carefully crafted image be tarnished?
How does his wife stand him? If I were "Jeeyall" and he talked about me and my family the way he does hers, I'd hurt him! He tries to make her sound like an airhead and her family like a bunch of backwoods hicks, but what he doesn't seem to realize is he only makes himself sound foolish.
Hey, Ergun. Unless you're going to change careers and become the next Jeff Foxworthy (there's an idea!), please leave the racial, ethnic, and sexual stereotypes out.
Word verification: blyip
That's "southern" for "blip."
New BBC Open forum: Loved your comments, absolutely hilarious!!! I am still laughing. Have you thought of going into comedy. Love it! BTW, I agree!
ReplyDeleteANON September 21, 2010 12:35 PM
ReplyDeleteAgenda 21 has NOTHING to do with this topic!
Your prayers were un needed as I already knew about the Green agenda for the UN...
ANd hey, don't forget about the Ga CANER version...Emir get's a GOLDEN ROD treatment in GA.
Go to the Georgia Baptist Convention website and see how they promote and prop him up...it is in your face "religion" In GA !!!
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ReplyDeleteAs for Ergun never seeing a possum before he moved to NC, was The Beverly Hillbillies not broadcast on Turkish television? According to several sources, possums are found all over the U.S. (at least wherever there are trees - I doubt you'll find them in the middle of the desert) and up into southeastern Canada.
ReplyDeleteWow, they're even in Ohio! Who knew?
There's a town in Ohio called Possum Woods. It's less than 50 miles from Columbus.
On the other hand, no one has ever heard of (or been able to locate on a map) the Possum-named town he said his wife is from.
Then there's Possum Creek MetroPark in Dayton. That's about 75 miles from Columbus.
Also, the Possum Lodge Cabins about 100 miles east of Columbus.
More Ohio "possum" names:
Possum Run Greenhouse & Gifts
Possum Run Antiques
Awesome Possum Theatre Company
So I'd say folks in Ohio are anything but ignorant about possums.
If one thinks and lives in Ergun Caner's world where women are treated as inferior, then his other statements are "true" from his perspective. (Here I have to include most of southern baptist pastors who believe in male dominance or superiority over women or even discounting feminine nature that is present in ALL men). From his worldview this statement "Then he says he lost his father, lost his family, and lost his home" makes sense for he views the world only through "male" filter, where females are relegated to a secondary nature.
ReplyDeleteThe ignorant Yankee act is getting old. I realize one might confuse a baby possum with a rat, and certainly a nutria with a rat, but I'd be embarrassed to admit I couldn't tell a full-grown possum from a rat. That reminds me of the Sears Optical commercial where the woman opens her patio door and squeals, "Here, kitty! Please come snuggle with mama!" and in waddles a big raccoon. Maybe Ergun just needed new glasses.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, the man has lived in the U.S. since he was 3. He went to school in the U.S. Does he really expect people to believe he's never at least seen a picture of a possum? As much as he's traveled (frequently at high rates of speed judging by the number of speeding tickets he's gotten) are we to believe he's never seen a possum on the side of the road? Truth be known, he's probably taken out a few with his seeming "need for speed."
Oh, and what person over the age of 10 hasn't heard of a snipe hunt? A grown man who by his own admission doesn't hunt or fish and from the safety of the inside of his house had to call the chairman of the deacons to come to his house in the middle of the night and deal with a "rat" that was outside his house is going to go out at "5:00 a.m. in the morning" (that's redundant, Ergun) to hunt snipe? Puhleaze. If I were him I'd be embarrassed to admit I was so gullible not to mention such a big weenie. (What did having only a couple pieces of furniture have to do with the story? Was he just saying he didn't have anything tall enough to climb on top of while he squealed like a little girl?)
But then that's part of the image, isn't it? The poor little Muslim boy who couldn't speak English very well, wearing a "dress" with his "laundry" on his head, forced to go into the restroom at school to pray, called names like "towelhead," and dragged to church by some guy who sounds like he considered Ergun more his "project" than his friend. (Who was this boy, where is he today, and why hasn't he rushed to his friend's defense?)
None of this passes the smell test.
Update on an old story.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 1:52,
ReplyDeleteThank you, but no. I just tend to see the humorous side of things. Sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying.
New BBC - thanks for the info on possums. I grew up in Indiana at the same time Ergun grew up just a few hours away in Columbus. Possums are native to all Eastern U.S. all the way up to southern Canada.
ReplyDeleteThe "snipe" trick was a classic Midwestern gag. My brother and I both were tricked by the ole "snipe hunt" gag when we about 9 and 10 by some relatives. Anyone older than 8 or 9 in the Midwest knew of the snipe trick. There is no way a grown man is going to fall for the snipe trick, unless an immigrant who came here as an adult. It is not a trick pulled on adults, but on kids who are unsuspecting and don't know that there is no such critter as a "snipe". I don't believe that a guy growing up in Ohio would move to NC and then as a grown man, college educated, would grab a bag, a flashlight, and go out into a field yelling "Snipe!, Snipe!". It is my opinion that story was part of his "I was an unsuspecting Muslim immigrant from Turkey, a towel head who didn't know any better" routine. He needs to delete that joke from his stand-up comedy routine.
They gave him a standing ovation. How far from scripture American "In you face Religion" Christians have come. It's an embarrassment. Jax, I bet if you and I(who told the truth about Caner) came into that same room, we would get anything but a standing ovation. What's backwards here?
ReplyDeleteThey gave him a standing ovation.
ReplyDeleteExactly. And this is precisely why he'll be able to keep going like the Energizer Bunny for at least another 20 years. I bet if you'd done a poll of those in attendance and asked how many of them had heard about this whole story from the past few months involving EC or how many knew he'd been demoted from his position as president of LBTS for "making contradictory statements" (i.e. lying), you'd be hard pressed to find more than one or two people who'd heard a thing about it.
So he's always speaking to a fresh, unsuspecting audience. Oh, he'll change up the stories, at least for a while, so that no one will really be able to document his... um... mistatements, but the stories themselves (see video) will continue to be as spectacular and manipulative as ever and he'll continue to get standing O's wherever he speaks.
Remember, he considers himself appointed by God, anointed by God, armed by God, abused and attacked by his critics, and righteously angry but apparently not accountable for anything. Until that changes I don't see how he can really be used by God.
Totally off-topic: But I suggest you go the SBC site and look at the latest news from Baptist Press regarding the retirement of Morris Chapman.
ReplyDeleteWhile I appreciate all that Dr Chapman has done for the convention and appreciate his stance against the Great Commission Resurgence, the excess spent "to honor" him and his time as the Executive Director of the Executive Committee and support and promotion of the Cooperative Program is ridiculous. Especially during a time when CP giving is behind 9% from last year.
Remember, he considers himself appointed by God, anointed by God, armed by God, abused and attacked by his critics, and righteously angry but apparently not accountable for anything. Until that changes I don't see how he can really be used by God.
ReplyDeleteSeptember 21, 2010 4:56 PM
29 For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. 31
Acts 20
Progress. Good.
ReplyDeleteDo you know why this video has been edited?
ReplyDeleteOn TurrentinFan's blog, where I came from into here, he is quoting from things Dr. Caner said after the 15 minute mark? This video only runs 14:51 minutes long?
Why the discrepancy?
So much for Caner's "apologies" and "repentance."
ReplyDeleteI'm only four minutes into it, but I wonder why when he is speaking at something called the 'Values Voter Summit,' he seems to think it's the 'Southern Voter Summit.'
ReplyDeleteRemember, he considers himself appointed by God, anointed by God, armed by God, abused and attacked by his critics, and righteously angry but apparently not accountable for anything. Until that changes I don't see how he can really be used by God.
ReplyDeleteThis is the part that really has me puzzled, concerned, and slightly angry. No repentance, no remorse, continuing to say he was attacked, yet what we said was true. This is not a healthy thing. It's narcissistic, or full of himself. I hear him speak of himself more than I do just Christ in his speeches. He spends more time giving jokes, talking about himself, and barely a mention of Christ and the gospel. More time is spent with this in your face(as someone eloquently termed it here) religion and attitude than the way Paul preached or Stephen or Christ himself.
natamllc said, "Why the discrepancy?"
ReplyDeletenatamllc, Are you sure you got it all? I have dial-up, and I have to try, try, and try again to download these big video files. In fact I haven't got all of this one yet.
The video is a little over 21 minutes long. It was copied from YouTube where it was posted in two parts and then stitched together into one video. There were several reasons for this. First of all, as we all know, YouTube and other videos you link to have a track record of disappearing (e.g. the EC parody videos). If you blog and want to link to someone else's video, it's always a good idea to back it up somewhere so you can go back and link to your own copy should the original go poof.
ReplyDeleteSecond, the two YouTube clips had about 2 minutes of overlap between them, and the second one inevitably froze at about the 2-minute mark in the YouTube player which I've found to be notoriously slow and aggravating.
You can watch it on VEOH at the link shown below the embedded version on the front page of this blog. I assure you nothing was edited out except the overlap in the middle to form one continuous clip. The only things added were the date and location at the beginning and fades at the beginning and end.
Credit was attributed to the YouTube poster and C-SPAN, and a "Fair Use" disclaimer was added.
It appears Johnny Hunt, John Hagee, Caner and a few other speakers will be taking a mission cruise to the Caribbean in late May early June 2011. It is called "Cruise with A Cause" and they even have Josh McDowell onboard as well. I believe McDowell is an excellent speaker and would be well worth the trip.
ReplyDeleteThey couldn't pay me enough to be on the same boat with the likes of Caner.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCruise with a Cause
ReplyDeleteJohn Hagee?
I have to remain anonymous as I am Faculty at Liberty U. Many of us are totally embarassed by this guy and the way Liberty U is continuing to shelter him. And also to allow him to get paid to do nothing. He did not attend one School Of Religion faculty meeting so far this year, is kept away from all contact with students, and remains invisible except for trotting him out to "preach" at Thomas Road and these types of events. They really believe here that it will all just miraculously go away, and then they will bring him back to replace his buddy Elmer Towns and get more dollars in through enrollment like he did before. This is a real black eye for those of us that try to do the right thing at a place where a family is allowed to run a "University" like a Church.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous LU faculty member,
ReplyDeleteIf indeed that many of you feel that strongly, organize yourselves and make your feelings known. Are they going to fire over half the faculty? If nothing else, start an anonymous blog! You don't have to suffer in silence.
In many of these cases (abusive pastors, clergy sex abusers, Caner) the people closest to the situation are afraid to speak out because they fear retaliation. There is strength in numbers. Band together and speak out. Nothing may change, but at least you can rest in the knowledge that you've stood for truth.