Preachers, Sermons

Eric Capaci Tells A War Story

63 Comments

Ereic Capaci here tells the story of how he learned he was more important than the President. (If the whole 8:22 story is too long for you to sit through, just check out the first 53 seconds for an amazing exercise in self-contradiction in his intro. It’s classic.)

63 thoughts on “Eric Capaci Tells A War Story”

  2. Wow. Yeah, I had to bail after that first minute. And this might not be the self-contradiction you’re talking about but the idea that EVeryone who came to see Jesus was DESperate is so manifestly untrue it beggars belief. (The woman at the well didn’t even come to Jesus, technically–he was waiting for her.) The Pharisees? The Sadducees? The Rich Young Ruler? Even the disciples???

    1. SFL: not letting pesky little details like the facts or logic get in the way of a perfectly good sermon point. 🙄

    2. I loved that his very first example he used was the woman at the well, who is the embodiment of not being desperate, she didn’t even know after a fairly long discourse who he was for crying out loud! Also not depserate: Paul, and Nicodemus.

    3. People who were desperate: the centurion with the dying servant, Jairus, the woman who touched His robe. Everyone else we hear about (because we don’t have all the story according to John 21:25) was probably resigned to their lot before Jesus came along.

  3. So what you’re saying is that yesterday’s (blessedly short) 1:16 video was a mere “bazinga!” in the world of fundy videos?

    1. It’s Darrell’s way of lulling us into thinking he cares about our time. Yesterday a rabbit-quick 1:16 video. Today, an agonizing 8:22 (and I mean agonizing as I watched it all). Although to be fair, he did warn us right up front. Which is sort of like the IFB preacher saying “just one more thing and I’ll be finished” as he drinks from the water bottle and rolls up his sleeves. 😆

      2. You’re all hypocrites! You mean you hate it when the MOG preaches a 25-minute long “second sermon” while you’re standing, but you’re willing to watch it on an embedded Youtube video? You remind me of the folks who won’t go to the movie theater but can’t wait until the DVD’s out. 😛

        1. The difference is choice. I choose to view a you tube video at my convenience, where I want, when I want, as often as I want. The issue is not the message, but rather being responsible and showing consideration for others. A speaker that chooses to hold an audience 25 minutes longer in today’s society is irresponsible and inconsiderate.

    2. I loved the short clips, but if you try googling fundy screeds/war stories, clips etc, they aren’t exactly the picture of brevity. I’m guessing d would love to post shorter ones, but there just aren’t many.

        2. You ain’t kidding. It takes my Assemblies of God pastor over twenty minutes to talk about the Lord’s Supper, which our church has once a month. And then he complains to his family that the ushers take too long to distribute the wine grape juice and the crackers because they don’t know what they’re doing. 🙄

  4. (7:40-8:08) “Dude, do you know who I am?” Wow! That says it all. Didn’t someone else once say “I Am”?(See John 8:58)

  5. Regarding the rant in the 1st minute about the bus kids and candy bars……who’s more desperate? The kids or the bus workers who can brag about how many were on the bus??

    1. I just can’t get my head around that.

      “Those kids are SO DESPERATE to find love that all we have to do is promise them a candybar or an Easter Egg hunt. I mean if they weren’t DESPERATE we would have had to at least upped the ante to three comic books and a remote controlled car.”

      What?

      1. “upped the ante to three comic books and a remote controlled car.”

        And with that, there goes the bus ministry’s yearly budget in one weekend.

    2. The bus workers are the most desperate, especially if they’re attending a fundy college. Because the next day in chapel the president might ask anyone who brought at least five to stand, and they’ll have to remain seated.

  6. Big time preachers v common folk. This is the biggest problem I see in the video and fundyland in general (hard to pick just one) The near hero-worship of fundy leaders.

    Jesus said “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

    Wouldn’t it have been great if “Mr Fundy” would have given his ticket to the custodian, and then let (HIM)tell the story?

    I just thank the Lord today, and am reminded to try and be humble and walk through this life/world with a servant’s heart just as this verse tells us to. Just think of the Son of the Living God, putting off his majesty,to come to this world and walk the dusty streets of planet earth for alittle while, Wow, He is amazing!

    1. (@greg)
      “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

      Ever notice that a whole lot of fundamentalists insert “must FIRST be your servant”? As in, it’s OK for a managawd to become great and to rule over others, as long as he puts in his “servant time” first?

      Jesus didn’t say “first be a servant, and then you get to rule.” He said “anyone who wants to rule should be everyone’s servant instead.”

  8. So many problems, such little time.

    “Girls, you won’t get called to preach…”

    “Brother Capaci, saved out of Catholicism” ?!

    And he mentions that he’s on the Presidential Prayer Team. Do Fundies pray for Presidents they disagree with, too?

    1. I didn’t make it to the “girls you won’t be called to preach”. Would’ve been nice if Paul had mentioned that was what he meant when he said those called to preach should preach

  10. Wow. Just wow. Don’t know what else to say about his “sermon.” But as a side note, what in the world are the flags and checkers all about? Is this a NASCAR lovin’ church or something?

    1. I noticed the same thing. Maybe the church is having a soul-winning marathon called the IFB 500 😎

    1. Violently, desperately trying to get to Jesus.
      Works, Works, Works, Works, Works, Works, Works, Works, Works…

      Everybody sing:

      “Glo-ry to my na-ame
      Glo-ry to my na-ame
      The only one at the altar one night I came
      Glo-ry to my name!”

  12. The only one I can think of that could classify as “desperate” would be the rich young ruler and I think only one account(in Mark?) brings thst out than he came running and slid to Jesus feet. It’s sounds like an infomercial because the last story hasnothing to do with the second.Watching him is like watching ping-pong. I don’t think I know wha5t he’s getting at when he says he not famous and he’s afraid of famous preachers. He has a semi-superstar stauts which is why his college is a pretty good size. Maybe not as big As HAC or some other,but a good sized.

    1. I’m not sure I buy the rich young ruler who waqs unwilling to sell his stuff. I would count the man lowered through the roof, blind bartimeus, and a couple examples he mentioned.

      2. In Mark 10:17 it says :

        And when hye had gone forth into the way, there came one running,and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I shall inherit eternal life?

        Thats why i made that statement.

        Mark is the only one that seems to bring this out(that he ran and knelt at jesus feet).

    2. Yeah his brother gave up being the principle of one of the top three mothership IFB K-12 schools here in this part of NC, in order to go out and help him.
      Can anyone say, “Empire Building?”

  13. Wow…He plugged his “I pray for the president 25 times a day”. Not to mention that candy bars soothe the desperate child heart as they get on the bus…And what’s with the voice going up a few octaves when he pronounced DESPERATE! I really hate showmanship in the name of Holy things.

  14. Please tell me that he didn’t put 100 people into a single bus at one time – that it was really a couple of trips or a couple of buses. I ran the transportation ministry for our former church and there were strict limits on passenger loads. A former school bus with a 66 pax capacity could only be seated to 44 under commercial motor vehicle codes. If you have an accident or a fire, you have to be able to get the people out quickly. If you want to safely carry 100 people you need an airliner, not a bus.

    Jim K.

    1. I know the legal capacity for school busses and non school ones vary. My understaqnding in PA, was you could put 3 kids per seat/row in non school bus, and only 2 in school bus. IDK if that is exact right number or what other states rules are.

      2. In WI, it was the opposite. School buses could go 3 to a seat but once it was no longer a school bus (ie church bus conversion), we were limited to 2. There was a little grousing and moaning when we dropped the max cap on the bus but it was as much of a safety issue as a matter of legality. I also had to enforce keeping the aisles clear and the exits accessible on long trips after seeing a photo of a wall of luggage and other gear in the last 1/3 of the bus totally blocking the emergency exit. Why someone thought that was a good idea is beyond me. You only have 2 exits in an older bus and if you have to get people out of a damaged vehicle quickly, someone’s liable to die if you’re overcrowded or overloaded.

        Curiously enough, our original exhaust system (as a school bus) exited the vehicle out the side about 1/3 of the way back. As a CMV, we had to add pipe to carry the exhaust all the way past the rear bumper. I guess it was okay to pack school kids like sardines and gas them on school buses but not in church buses/CMV’s. Go figure!

        Jim K.

  15. Regarding the candy bars… I’m sure some of (or most of) the kids probably didn’t go to the church because they were desperate for Jesus. They probably went just because they wanted the candy. imo

    1. Good observation, I thought that kinda odd too considering where he attended school and all. It would be a shame to have some nice diggs like that only to listen to him rant and rave like he does on the video.

    2. I wouldn’t say in their lobby unless the sight says that. More like over to the side of their lobby inside their church bookstore. And it actually has its own name- Capachi’s

      1. I only say that cause I’ve been inside there. Alot of their college kids hang out there when they have free time.

  17. I’ve always been wary of bus ministries, and he just helped prove my point. He’s talking about them (children, mind you) like they’re all some sort of sorry, pathetic, easily manipulated sub-human group of people.

  18. This type of preaching (which FILLS IFB churches) is the result of 1) NO studying of Scripture and/or 2) a regurgitation of each others “sermons”.

  19. Those bus kids are DESPERATE to get to an Easter Egg Hunt – what a bunch of pagans.

    HAY-men!

  20. I am really impressed with the decorations on Bro. Capaci’s pulpit area. The Ladies’ Sunday School class must have gone all out at Party City to do those flags and banners!

    We had the police come to our church this past week because one of the kids from our Bus Ministry Neighborhoods got on the bus without telling his mother. Someone had seen him get on the bus and that’s why the policemen knew where to find him. I can’t believe that mother was so resistant to the Gospel Preaching that she wanted her son returned home immediately! The police said that we should do permission slips. But, that would really cut down on attendance because we’d have to find the parents of the children we pick up at the playgrounds and on the sidewalks.

    Also, Mr. Waverly ‘retired’ from his Bus Route this Sunday after 45 years of service. My dad says it was an Ultimate Promotion because of his stewardship. My brother, Uriah, thinks it’s because he backed the bus into Pastor’s Crown Victoria. I think that’s just a conincidence. Mrs. Waverly told me Mother that she was finally going to get to eat breakfast at her kitchen table since she didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to go with Mr. Waverly to get the bus from church and then run the bus route that is on the other side of town. She said she’d almost forgotten what a bacon bisuit tasted like. Mother told me later that we are taking those poor people a breakfast casserole (Mother’s second-most famous dish) this week.

  21. I believe there is a lot on B.S. in this sermon (and B.S. doesn’t mean Bible Stuff.)
    First, he prays for the president 20-25 times a day. Where does he find the time?
    Then there is member of his church who sits on the Board of Directors of a hospital. It wouldn’t hurt to drop a name. “Brother Johnson here who sits on the Board of Directors ….”
    The children are not desperate to go to Sunday school. Their parents are desperate to get the noisy little bastards out of the house for a few hours, so the parents can have some “quality time” alone. This also applies to vacation bible school.
    Finally..
    “Welcome to Baptist Medical Center, where most of our doctors are either Hindus or Buddhists”

  24. Just a thought. People do not come to Christ because THEY are desperate, they come because HE draws them…

  25. I sit marveling..maybe, maybe, just possibly, could this Capaci fellow be wifeless, or looking for another one who is more submissive, or looking for a mistress….cause if I could be with him…I could…wow….maybe be more important than God!

    1. LOL Jeanine, 1 year to the day after you made this comment I am laughing! I’ve never heard this Eric Capaci person before, I’ve heard the name since you can’t be around fundy circles for long without hearing all the names of the big shots. And does he ever think he’s a big shot. He’s more important than the president is he? I bet outside of fundamentalism not many have heard his name. But he’s more important than the president. Hmmm. 😕

  26. I knew Eric many years ago and it was always all about him back then. People can change of course, but it sure is hard when someone stays in Fundy circles. I don’t think they can really see how bad it is until they come out. From what I can tell, it still seems like it’s all about him. So glad I’m out of these circles. Detestable.

  27. What a holy hotshot! Was there any Bible teaching whatsoever during that extended bragimony? I think I would have responded to him much more readily had he remained that “shy little boy”. Here is another example (IMO) of a preacher who has replaced the glory of “the calling” with the “exaltation” of the “position”.
    Please stop yelling at me, little man – and btw, your condescension towards the ladies in the audience makes me believe you are compensating for the shortcomings in your own life. Ironically, it only makes you look even smaller.
    Look to Jesus and see what a minister of the Gospel does. He calls to his sheep, and they hear His voice. You, on the other hand, are in love with your own voice. (Imo). Consequently, instead of shepherding, you are performing baton twirls with your rod and staff. “Baaaaaaad form”, cry the sheep, as they wander further from the green pastures. Just zayin’

    Let not mercy and truth forsake thee; bind them about thy neck. Write them upon the table of thine heart. (Pr. 3:5-6)

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