Restore Stephen Baldwin, My Ass

This has got to be the most tone deaf appeal for charity I have seen in a long, long time:

Stephen Baldwin of the famous “Baldwin Brothers” Hollywood clan is a veteran actor who has starred in over 60 films and TV shows. He is no stranger to the Hollywood life of glitz, glamour and the public eye.

In 2003, he had an experience that changed his life forever. He became Born Again Christian, giving his life to Jesus Christ. Over the next few years, he became very vocal about his faith, using his spotlight to boldly preach the gospel. However, because of this convictions it has caused him the loss of many jobs and the most recently, a highly publicized bankruptcy.

He has been publicly ridiculed and insulted by people who think that he has been abandoned by God. A simple search through the internet will reveal that people not only mock Stephen, but mock God.

In response to this (with the permission of Stephen’s ministry President Daniel Southern) we have established RestoreStephenBaldwin.org. A privately funded and managed website. Our vision is to see Stephen Baldwin publicly restored in front of millions. Stephen’s platform will increase allowing him to reach even more people with the Gospel and God will get all of the glory. Publicly.

And just in case you think this is a joke, they have put together a very detailed FAQ to explain how serious they are about this:

Q- Why doesn’t his family help him?
A- His family does not perceive Stephen’s predicament as a matter of spiritual warfare. They see Stephen’s outspoken Christianity as poor choices therefore they will not help.

Boohoo!  Baldwin’s family is rich beyond the dreams of avarice. I am sure that if their little boy Stephen was really in serious trouble, they would be perfectly happy to help him out with the odd thousand or two.

Q- What happened to his wealth?
A- When he became an outspoken Christian in 2002 his income went down by 70% when he refused roles with gratuitous sex and violence.

Yeah, right, that’s got to be it, and nothing to do with the fact that he can’t act his way out of a paper bag. And just think of how many thousands of hard-working Christian actors must be out there who would love to have 30% of Baldwin’s 2002 income.  Perhaps if Baldwin wasn’t too busy prostituting himself on tawdry reality shows like “Help I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” and “Celebrity Big Brother” then he might actually start making back some of his lost fortune.

And another thing, you don’t get millions of dollars into debt just from being mocked and laughed at. You get that way because you have been living way beyond your means and made some terrible financial decisions.

Q- If Stephen was not involved how did you get permission to do this?
A- Daniel Southern is Stephen’s spiritual advisor and the President of Stephen’s ministries. We contacted Daniel who gave us written permission to build the site .

Then shame on Daniel Southern. He should have said no to this dumb venture as soon as he was approached.

Q- Why does Stephen need personal wealth?
A- Stephen’s influence is in Hollywood. Hollywood worships money and without it you are seen as a loser and cannot be an effective influence to this group.

Utter crap. Baldwin’s family and business connections buy far more access than an extra million or two in his pocket would. This whole venture makes him look like a money-grubbing loser and will likely make it even harder for him to earn a salary in Hollywood.

Q- How much money does he need?
A- From what I read in public court documents Stephen needs several million dollars to pay all of his creditors but he deserves hundreds of millions for his Job like faithfulness in the face of relentless loss and persecution.

Bwahahaha!! This kind of nonsense is typical of the conservative Christian community here in America. Compared with the real persecution Christians (and all kinds of other people) suffer around the world, this conservative Christian persecution complex is absolutely laughable. Baldwin deserves hundreds of millions of dollars just because some people have said mean things about him? The person who created this site is single-handedly turning Stephen Baldwin into the biggest crybaby in America.

Q- What percentage of a gift actually reaches Stephen?
A- 100% goes directly into his bank account through online gifting. The bank account was arranged by Daniel Southern. Daniel was Billy Graham’s Crusade Director for almost 20 years.

If Baldwin accepts a penny of this money, he’s a far bigger fool than I already thought he was. His career is never going to recover from the amount of ridicule this venture is going to get him. And everyone who stuffs money into Baldwin’s bank account are just as big an idiot as he is.  There are thousands of other charities who need the money much more than Baldwin does, many of them run by Christians. They’d be far better off giving their spare change to one of them than lining the pockets of a Baldwin brother.

Q- Was Stephen involved in the movement planning, concept or site development?
A- No

Doesn’t matter in the slightest whether or not  Stephen was personally involved.  The mere fact that Baldwin and this organization have not already shut down this farce is a permanent stain on his reputation.

Q- Who does Stephen try to reach with his ministries?
A- From Hollywood to large arena events in the inner cities drawing troubled youth with motocross jumping and Extreme games.

Then pay him a salary or a fee to perform the work he does for Christian causes. That’s what honest people would do.

Q- What about other people who are hurting in this economy?
A- Those that just came to your mind mail them a token gift also.

Better yet, double the token gift to the charity that springs to mind and forget padding Baldwin’s personal bank account with your money.

Q- Is this about the economy?
A- Like everyone else it is a factor but the economy is not the reason Stephen is in financial trouble.

Several of my friends have lost their jobs in the last few months, some of them Christians, and I’ve yet to see any of them begging for handouts from anonymous fellow believers over the Internet. I’d also wager that none of them was earning anywhere close to what Stephen Baldwin is pulling in this year, despite his financial woes.

So, is Stephen Baldwin really that dumb? I guess we’ll soon see.  If this site isn’t pulled within the next 48 hours then I don’t see how we can come to any other conclusion.