{"id":2166,"date":"2026-02-11T23:16:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T23:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/?p=2166"},"modified":"2026-02-11T23:16:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T23:16:41","slug":"monetizing-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2026\/02\/11\/monetizing-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"Monetizing Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cMonetizing Jesus: How Predators Bait Us & How to Outsmart Them,\u201d is the title of the latest book from Glen Bell, PhD. There is a much to unpack in that title, and Bell does his best to cover all the ground the title implies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The first part of \u201cMonetizing Jesus\u201d discusses predatory systems; destructive political, religious, multi-level, self-help, or business organizations. Groups manipulating the messages of Jesus are a prime example, which is where the title comes from. Bell explores the ways predators operate alone, and in groups, so the reader can identify them in their own lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next part of the book is all about critical thinking, the way our brains work and how to keep our reason in check. Here you learn about cognitive bias, logical fallacies, research methods, and more. I feel that the first two parts of \u201cMonetizing Jesus\u201d are the crux of the text. They fulfill the promise of the title, and are an entertaining read full of useful tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The concluding section of the \u201cMonetizing Jesus\u201d the author applies all the principles and lessons to attempt to answer questions such as, \u201cIs there a God?\u201d and \u201cWhat about Jesus?\u201d Ball navigates the questions and conversation around them respectfully, and he does show \u201cshow his work\u201d for lack of a better phrase. He shows how he applied his lessons to the questions, and where it led him. It all feels a bit out of place with the rest of the text, until the end where Ball concludes and wraps it up nicely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMonetizing Jesus\u201d is an interesting and useful text for those interested in learning about predatory people and groups and the importance of independent thought in a healthy community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can learn more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can reserve your copy here.<\/a> (This is an affiliate link to my Bookshop, which supports independent bookstores throughout the United States. If you use this link to purchase the book, I will make a small commission at no additional cost to you.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you enjoy The Magical Buffet? Considering supporting The Magical Buffet on Patreon! For only $5 a month you\u2019ll receive monthly tarot\/oracle forecasts, classes, and behind the scenes updates! https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/magicalbuffet<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A look at the importance of independent thought in a landscape of predators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2166"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2166"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2169,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2166\/revisions\/2169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}