If you've ever felt like you were chained to the almighty dollar, then you might like Community Christian's new video all about the fact that for most of us, the almighty dollar has "really got a hold on us."

Enjoy the sweetness, and have a great day! This video kicked off our brand new series "The Ladder", where we as a church are spending three weeks to delve into what steps are needed to become a generous person, and how God wants to come alongside us to break the chains. You can check out the entire message at www.communitychristian.org, and the video short is available here or click below.

In podcast #66 of the Pop Culture Pulpit, I spoke about today being not just Halloween, but JesusWeen. Listen to that here.

In the meantime, Happy Jesus-ween, and enjoy this article I found today all about how the church needs to do Zombie-outreach, the right way.

Have a great October 31st!

So I thought I would let my first post of October (eek) be a barrage of coolness: things I've seen/taken in this week that I think is/are awesome.

First up: my new episode of The Pop Culture Pulpit - for the first time I have a guest! My good friend and the "king of tv" Paul Goebel - he talks with me about the new fall tv season, and it was great to have him as a guest. Listen by clicking here.

Next up: Check out this "shadow artist" - his sculptures are crafted and shaped theough steel and shadows. Very creative.

Here's a trailer for a fascinating new movie called The Artist: a film made this past year that utilizes the craft of "silent movie making" to tell its story. What at first sounds cheesy and unnecessary sure does look cool and actually compelling.

Have you ever thought of Jerry Seinfeld as a prophet? You will after seeing this stand-up on the concept of answering machines and their functionality in our contemporary world of Facebook:

And finally, mashups seem to be all the rage, and this one combines the vocal stylings of Tom Waits with the visual impact of cookie monster, and, in many ways... it speaks for itself. Enjoy the clicking everyone!

Don't delay! Act now and get all the benefits that await you by following Phony Torton's lead to make your prayer life full of life once again! Enjoy the parody!

Couldn't be more excited about the next Epic Theatre Company production - July 21-24 at the Naperville Yellow Box Theater. My brother Elic and I are starring in a two-man show called "The Mystery of Irma Vep." It's a comedy that pokes fun at gothic melodrama and penny-dreadful tales of "horror."

We chose the show to follow Community's recent series on the supernatural and paranormal called "Fringe." And we chose it, because, quite frankly, (1) I've always wanted to do it and (2) I've always wanted to perform it with my brother.

The story follows a lovelorn werewolf, a campy vampire, and an Egyptian princess with a secret, who greet Lord Edgar's new bride as she tries to escape the deadly fate of his first wife in this side-splitting spoof of gothic melodrama. It is directed by the incomparable Lynda Christopher.

The entertainment flows from the comedy of the script itself and the fact that Elic and I play all the roles. Men, women, ghosts, you name it. We play it. Trust me - this is one show you do not want to miss.

You can purchase tickets online RIGHT NOW by clicking this link. Get them now! We are in a smaller space and I suspect that tickets will sell out fast. At least, I hope so!

All shows are at 7:30pm. Tickets are available for $15 for Adults, $10 for Jr. and Sr. High Students, and $5 for kids. The show is not inappropriate for kids by any stretch of the imagination, but it's not a show for kids necessarily. (So, it's cleaner than Super 8 but it's no Cars 2...)

So, you coming? How many people are you bringing?

As many of you know, I started a podcast recently called the "Pop Culture Pulpit." And this past week's episode (Ep. 53) was called "I'm Bringing Serving Back" and focused on the power of parody. It was on my mind because we were in the middle of building a parody music video to the tune of Rebecca Black's internet sensation "Friday."

You can subscribe to the podcast here - I cover a bunch of topics surrounding pop culture, with the pastor in mind, though it's certainly not "just for pastors." But in episode 53, I interview my daughter Sadie who had just begun working on the vocals for the parody song.

I'm pleased to announce that the video is completed, and you can watch it right here! We had a great time making it. Much thanks to Matthew Paul Turner over at Jesus Needs New PR for posting it on his blog and "being nice" to my daughter!

If you don't know that which we are parodying, well... you should probably start by watching the original. Watching our video without knowing about the original would kind of be like hearing Weird Al's "Eat It" without knowing anything about Michael Jackson. Still funny, but funnier if you know... So here's the Rebecca Black song "Friday:"

And here is our parody - obviously, we're looking to invite people to Easter Weekend, and this is a fun way to do it - enjoy, subscribe to the podcast, live laugh and love!

Every now and then, you see something on the internets that just makes you pause and take note.

Earlier today, Elic showed me a faked trailer for a non-existing sequel to E.T. called "E.T. X" - it's awesome, and has combined footage from films so as to make it plausible this film exists, with grown up appearances from Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore. Brilliant. This, my friends, is good parody.

I wanted to give my take on this whole Rob Bell controversy.

As you know if you’ve read my blog, I take comedy pretty seriously. And so when I read through Twitter and Facebook that a lot of people were taking potshots at Rob Bell, and that they were going after him as a universalist, and were assuming things about his new book “Love Wins”, well, I knew that I would have to do the research and offer my point of view.

I even heard some people were talking about Rob Bell like he was some kind of clown, and well, what can I say. It’s hard to argue with the truth.

Ever since I have known of Bob Bell (his friends call him Bob), I have known him to be a man full of joy and frivolity. Why people would want to choose now, this moment, to vilify him is beyond me. Sure – he placed too much emphasis on the medium of television, and it was tough to look at him too long with that nose and those glasses… but to accuse him of universalism! Oh sure, he’s a universalist all right – universally revered, as the greatest clown of all time!

If you’ve forgotten how influential Bob Bell was, just look at this cover art from his film series “Bozooma”, that played on WGN in the eighties.

Powerful stuff. Let’s all take a minute to drop our stoning rocks, and pick up some pop rocks. And a joy buzzer. And a rubber chicken.

Okay – are you still reading? Hope you enjoyed the satire – I know I did! (thanks to my friend John for having an idea that I could steal) And now… the real reason I gathered you here today…

I’ve launched a new podcast! It’s called “The Pop Culture Pulpit” – every week or so, I’ll be uploading a new episode where I try to connect the pop culture dots for pastors and church attenders alike. As your resident court jester, I will step up to the pulpit, digging through pop culture tidbits, and explaining to pastor-types what they need to know about it all, so that they don’t get up there on their own pulpits and mispronounce the word “Gaga.”

You don’t have time to keep up with everything – so let me do it for you! The Pop Culture Pulpit is One-Stop Pop Culture Shopping for the Discriminating Pastor.

There are multiple ways to get a hold of the podcast. First, you can subscribe to the podcast through iTunes by clicking this link.

Second, you can visit the web page! You can listen right on the page at http://www.popculturepulpit.com.

And I’ll always be posting and directing podcast traffic through my website, http://www.ericbramlett.org.

I’m passionate about keeping Pastors in the know when it comes to being salt and light in this world – and I want to have some fun with it along the way. So listen, let me know what you think, and tell a friend! You can email podcast questions for the Court Jester at popculturepulpit@gmail.com.

Thanks and I'll see you at the pulpit!