TVEvangelists and the Gospels

[mgrfin]

I watch a lot of TV Evangelism. And I have real problems with what goes on there on places like TBN.

The preachers all avoid the Gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John.
They never seem to preach the real Jesus as we see Him in the Gospels. There is a lot of ‘anointing’, blessing, shouting Amen and Alleluias, but I never hear The Sermon on the Mount, The love of God or Love of neighbor.
“Plant a seed of $71.21”, “Plant a seed of a month’s mortgage, or of a $1,000” - Paul and Jan Crouch collect over $100 million a year with which they line their pockets.
It is absolutely scandalous.
Can anyone elighten me on this situation?

mgrfin

 

[ribozyme]

I watch a lot of TV Evangelism. And I have real problems with what goes on there on places like TBN.

The preachers all avoid the Gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John.
They never seem to preach the real Jesus as we see Him in the Gospels. There is a lot of ‘anointing’, blessing, shouting Amen and Alleluias, but I never hear The Sermon on the Mount, The love of God or Love of neighbor.
“Plant a seed of $71.21”, “Plant a seed of a month’s mortgage, or of a $1,000” - Paul and Jan Crouch collect over $100 million a year with which they line their pockets.
It is absolutely scandalous.
Can anyone elighten me on this situation?

mgrfin

I think the poeple on TBN can be aptly called cormorants instead of emissaries of Christ.

Here’s some information about the tycoons of TBN:

SOME of the nation’s most powerful pastors — including Billy Graham, Robert H. Schuller and Greg Laurie — appear on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, benefiting from TBN’s worldwide reach while looking past the network’s reliance on the “prosperity gospel” to fuel its growth.

TBN’s creed is that if viewers send money to the network, God will repay them with great riches and good health. Even people deeply in debt are encouraged to put donations on credit cards.

“If you have been healed or saved or blessed through TBN and have not contributed … you are robbing God and will lose your reward in heaven,” Paul Crouch, co-founder of the Orange County-based network, once told viewers. Meanwhile, Crouch and his wife, Jan, live like tycoons.

I began looking into TBN after receiving some e-mails from former devotees of the network. Those people had given money to the network in hopes of getting a financial windfall from God. That didn’t work.

By then, I started to believe that God was calling me, as he did St. Francis of Assisi, to “rebuild his church” — not in some grand way that would lead to sainthood but by simply reporting on corruption within the church body.

I spent several years investigating TBN and pored through stacks of documents — some made available by appalled employees — showing the Crouches eating $180-per-person meals; flying in a $21-million corporate jet; having access to 30 TBN-owned homes across the country, among them a pair of Newport Beach mansions and a ranch in Texas. All paid for with tax-free donor money.

One of the stars of TBN and a major fundraiser is the self-proclaimed faith healer Benny Hinn. I attended one of his two-day “Miracle Crusades” at what was then the Pond of Anaheim. The arena was packed with sick people looking for a cure.

latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lostfaith21jul21,0,532432.story?page=3&coll=la-home-center

 

[allischalmers]

Most of these people are just using religion to make money for themselves. It’s nothing new, been going on for ages

 

[Ravyn_Guiliani]

It is called Prosperity Gospel and to me it borders on superstition and as someone who formerly was a practicing witch and involved in the New Age movement it is not much different from The Secret and other methods of ‘Manifesting’.
Google “Prosperity Theology”.

here is what wikipedia has to say about it:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology

Prosperity theology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This March 2007 does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)
Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.
This article has been tagged since April 2007.
Prosperity theology or Prosperity doctrine is the doctrine that prosperity and success in business is external evidence of God’s favor. This favor may be preordained, or granted in return for prayer or merit-making.

Prosperity theology is commonly a part of televangelist and pentecostal churches which claims God wants Christians to be successful in every way, including financially. Proponents claim that its purpose is funding of preaching throughout the World, and is based largely on a Bible verse (Deuteronomy 8:18) which says, “God gives you the power to get wealth to establish his covenant.” Critics, on the other hand, claim that the doctrine is used by its proponents to become wealthy at the expense of persons who give or that the doctrine’s focus on material wealth is misguided. Some of the evangelists supporting prosperity theology include Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Nasir Saddiki, Robert Tilton, T.D. Jakes, Paul Crouch, Joel Osteen, and Peter Popoff and internet evangelist Chris Mentillo. Pat Robertson calls this theory the “Law of Reciprocity” on his show, The 700 Club. The theology was previously the basis of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s PTL Club but was renounced by them in the 1990s following Jim Bakker’s prison term for fraud.

[edit] See also
Prosperity gospel
Toronto blessing
Predestination
Asceticism
Irresistible grace
Providentialism
Law of Attraction

[edit] References
The Protestant Ethic Thesis Donald Frey, Wake Forest University, eh.net
“capitalism”, latter-rain.com
“Between Faith and Fund-Raising”, By JULIAN GEARING, ASIAWEEK, SEPTEMBER 17, 1999 VOL. 25 NO. 37
“Expect God’s Favor: Interview with Joel Osteen”
Time Magazine Cover Story: “Does God want you to be rich?”

[edit] Links
This religion-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology”
Categories: Articles lacking sources from April 2007 | All articles lacking sources | Religion stubs | Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity

 

[mgrfin]

It is called Prosperity Gospel and to me it borders on superstition and as someone who formerly was a practicing witch and involved in the New Age movement it is not much different from The Secret and other methods of ‘Manifesting’.
Google “Prosperity Theology”.

here is what wikipedia has to say about it:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology

Prosperity theology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This March 2007 does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)
Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.
This article has been tagged since April 2007.
Prosperity theology or Prosperity doctrine is the doctrine that prosperity and success in business is external evidence of God’s favor. This favor may be preordained, or granted in return for prayer or merit-making.

Prosperity theology is commonly a part of televangelist and pentecostal churches which claims God wants Christians to be successful in every way, including financially. Proponents claim that its purpose is funding of preaching throughout the World, and is based largely on a Bible verse (Deuteronomy 8:18) which says, “God gives you the power to get wealth to establish his covenant.” Critics, on the other hand, claim that the doctrine is used by its proponents to become wealthy at the expense of persons who give or that the doctrine’s focus on material wealth is misguided. Some of the evangelists supporting prosperity theology include Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Nasir Saddiki, Robert Tilton, T.D. Jakes, Paul Crouch, Joel Osteen, and Peter Popoff and internet evangelist Chris Mentillo. Pat Robertson calls this theory the “Law of Reciprocity” on his show, The 700 Club. The theology was previously the basis of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s PTL Club but was renounced by them in the 1990s following Jim Bakker’s prison term for fraud.

[edit] See also
Prosperity gospel
Toronto blessing
Predestination
Asceticism
Irresistible grace
Providentialism
Law of Attraction

[edit] References
The Protestant Ethic Thesis Donald Frey, Wake Forest University, eh.net
“capitalism”, latter-rain.com
“Between Faith and Fund-Raising”, By JULIAN GEARING, ASIAWEEK, SEPTEMBER 17, 1999 VOL. 25 NO. 37
“Expect God’s Favor: Interview with Joel Osteen”
Time Magazine Cover Story: “Does God want you to be rich?”

[edit] Links
This religion-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology”
Categories: Articles lacking sources from April 2007 | All articles lacking sources | Religion stubs | Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity

Thanks for the insights. It is truly disturbing to watch them, and to listen for any semblance of real Christianity, rather than greed.

mgrfin

 

[promethius95945]

I watch a lot of TV Evangelism. And I have real problems with what goes on there on places like TBN.

The preachers all avoid the Gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John.
They never seem to preach the real Jesus as we see Him in the Gospels. There is a lot of ‘anointing’, blessing, shouting Amen and Alleluias, but I never hear The Sermon on the Mount, The love of God or Love of neighbor.
“Plant a seed of $71.21”, “Plant a seed of a month’s mortgage, or of a $1,000” - Paul and Jan Crouch collect over $100 million a year with which they line their pockets.
It is absolutely scandalous.
Can anyone elighten me on this situation?

mgrfin

SSSSHHHH! don’t you know we catholics are the only ones allowed to be accused of taking money from the people?

this is reason number 1 that teaching your children that you give for the sake of giving instead of so that you can get back… so they don’t fall sucker to prosperity theology games…