When a prosperity tv evangelist was exposed as a fraud on national tv

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I was up late the other day and channel surfing, came across the Peter Popoff show, Ive seen this guy before and decided to watch just for a laugh. On this show he was going on about a piece of rock, supposedly from Cuppernia, and he instructs viewers to call in so he can send one to them, it goes on to say this ‘divine rock’ is still infused with the power of Jesus. LOL

I did some googling and came across the incident when a professional debunker exposed Popoff on the Johnny Carson show, and not long after, Popoff admitted it and declared bankruptcy. His wife and other people used hidden wireless radios to communicate, so it would appear like Popoff knew things about the person.

casa.colorado.edu/~dduncan/pseudoscience/PeterPopoff.htm

Unfortunately Popoff is back to his old tricks, even after being exposed AGAIN in 2007. The last figures show he brought in $24 million in 2014!!

I am wondering what can be done to stop these people in their tracks, surely as christians, we have a duty to prevent these kinds of things?
 
mikekle said:
I was up late the other day and channel surfing, came across the Peter Popoff show, Ive seen this guy before and decided to watch just for a laugh. On this show he was going on about a piece of rock, supposedly from Cuppernia, and he instructs viewers to call in so he can send one to them, it goes on to say this ‘divine rock’ is still infused with the power of Jesus. LOL

I did some googling and came across the incident when a professional debunker exposed Popoff on the Johnny Carson show, and not long after, Popoff admitted it and declared bankruptcy. His wife and other people used hidden wireless radios to communicate, so it would appear like Popoff knew things about the person.

casa.colorado.edu/~dduncan/pseudoscience/PeterPopoff.htm

Unfortunately Popoff is back to his old tricks, even after being exposed AGAIN in 2007. The last figures show he brought in $24 million in 2014!!

I am wondering what can be done to stop these people in their tracks, surely as christians, we have a duty to prevent these kinds of things?
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Indeed. Believing that a rock (and not the one that Jesus calls rock, lest there be any confusion) seems to remind me of the New Age movement
 
mikekle said:
I was up late the other day and channel surfing, came across the Peter Popoff show, Ive seen this guy before and decided to watch just for a laugh. On this show he was going on about a piece of rock, supposedly from Cuppernia, and he instructs viewers to call in so he can send one to them, it goes on to say this ‘divine rock’ is still infused with the power of Jesus. LOL
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There is indeed a rock, and has Jesus’ power in it.

It’s called the Catholic Church.
 
mikekle said:
I am wondering what can be done to stop these people in their tracks, surely as christians, we have a duty to prevent these kinds of things?
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Person: I am going to see X

You: He was not only proven a scam artist, but literally admitted it himself.

Person: Yeah but still, he is going to make God my personal magic money genie!

You: okay…

🤷 tis all there is. People are nuts.
 
Yeah I’m inclined to agree. Some people are just hard wired to be bilked. I mean Popoff is one of the worst of these types of preachers. And if that kind of hard evidence against him doesn’t convince them, nothing will.
 
mikekle said:
I was up late the other day and channel surfing, came across the Peter Popoff show, Ive seen this guy before and decided to watch just for a laugh. On this show he was going on about a piece of rock, supposedly from Cuppernia, and he instructs viewers to call in so he can send one to them, it goes on to say this ‘divine rock’ is still infused with the power of Jesus. LOL

I did some googling and came across the incident when a professional debunker exposed Popoff on the Johnny Carson show, and not long after, Popoff admitted it and declared bankruptcy. His wife and other people used hidden wireless radios to communicate, so it would appear like Popoff knew things about the person.

casa.colorado.edu/~dduncan/pseudoscience/PeterPopoff.htm

Unfortunately Popoff is back to his old tricks, even after being exposed AGAIN in 2007. The last figures show he brought in $24 million in 2014!!

I am wondering what can be done to stop these people in their tracks, surely as christians, we have a duty to prevent these kinds of things?
Click to expand...
Let the buyer beware! If one thinks he can own the “power of Jesus” for $24.99 + shipping, then there is not much the law of common sense can do about it.
 
The owner of a company I did some work for asked me how much “tenfold” was. I said I wasn’t sure, but I assume ten times whatever the starting number was.

She then told me that she had given X dollars in charity this year and she wanted to calculate how much money was going to come her way in return.

Only slightly off topic, but yeah these people are out there.
 
mikekle said:
I was up late the other day and channel surfing, came across the Peter Popoff show, Ive seen this guy before and decided to watch just for a laugh. On this show he was going on about a piece of rock, supposedly from Cuppernia, and he instructs viewers to call in so he can send one to them, it goes on to say this ‘divine rock’ is still infused with the power of Jesus. LOL

I did some googling and came across the incident when a professional debunker exposed Popoff on the Johnny Carson show, and not long after, Popoff admitted it and declared bankruptcy. His wife and other people used hidden wireless radios to communicate, so it would appear like Popoff knew things about the person.

casa.colorado.edu/~dduncan/pseudoscience/PeterPopoff.htm

Unfortunately Popoff is back to his old tricks, even after being exposed AGAIN in 2007. The last figures show he brought in $24 million in 2014!!

I am wondering what can be done to stop these people in their tracks, surely as christians, we have a duty to prevent these kinds of things?
Click to expand...
Just what you did here in the OP: expose, expose, expose! The may very well be lurkers who have come across this thread inclined to this kind of thing. Maybe you made them think twice. 👍

Jon
 
Rhubarb said:
The owner of a company I did some work for asked me how much “tenfold” was. I said I wasn’t sure, but I assume ten times whatever the starting number was.

She then told me that she had given X dollars in charity this year and she wanted to calculate how much money was going to come her way in return.

Only slightly off topic, but yeah these people are out there.
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Wow so she ostensibly gave to charity assuming that she’d get 10x the amount in return?
 
mikekle said:
I was up late the other day and channel surfing, came across the Peter Popoff show, Ive seen this guy before and decided to watch just for a laugh. On this show he was going on about a piece of rock, supposedly from Cuppernia, and he instructs viewers to call in so he can send one to them, it goes on to say this ‘divine rock’ is still infused with the power of Jesus. LOL

I did some googling and came across the incident when a professional debunker exposed Popoff on the Johnny Carson show, and not long after, Popoff admitted it and declared bankruptcy. His wife and other people used hidden wireless radios to communicate, so it would appear like Popoff knew things about the person.

casa.colorado.edu/~dduncan/pseudoscience/PeterPopoff.htm

Unfortunately Popoff is back to his old tricks, even after being exposed AGAIN in 2007. The last figures show he brought in $24 million in 2014!!

I am wondering what can be done to stop these people in their tracks, surely as christians, we have a duty to prevent these kinds of things?
Click to expand...
The guy who exposed Popoff was James Randi. He has offered a million dollars to anyone who can demonstrate a supernatural or paranormal ability. Randi has debunked many such claims over the years and nobody has succesfully completed his challenge.

Genesis made a great song about these televangelist frauds: “Jesus he knows me.”
 
adamhovey1988 said:
Indeed. Believing that a rock (and not the one that Jesus calls rock, lest there be any confusion) seems to remind me of the New Age movement
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The only “rock” that is worthy of some recognition of St. Peter! (As you subtly said). 😃
 
All of the “prosperity gospel” preachers are con men. Popoff was just dumber than some and used easily exposed methods. Some are more sophisticated and use nothing more than personal charisma and their ability to persuade suckers to part with their money.

But they’re all the same. Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, T.D. Jakes, Reverend Ike, the whole crew, who use the name of God to enrich themselves at the expense of others.

They should be ashamed to call themselves Christians, but of course they have no shame.
 
Inisfallen said:
All of the “prosperity gospel” preachers are con men. Popoff was just dumber than some and used easily exposed methods. Some are more sophisticated and use nothing more than personal charisma and their ability to persuade suckers to part with their money.

But they’re all the same. Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, T.D. Jakes, Reverend Ike, the whole crew, who use the name of God to enrich themselves at the expense of others.

They should be ashamed to call themselves Christians, but of course they have no shame.
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It’s amazing, but not surprising, how many people it draws in too. 3 of the 4 largest Christian congregations in the US preach prosperity theology including Joel Osteen’s. And his ministry is responsible for spreading the idea to more people arguably than any other single source now that he’s become a “darling” of the more mainstream with his books, TV program, world tours, etc…

I think Time did a poll that pegged it at 17% of Christians that are members of one prosperity ministry or another.
 
John_Lazarus said:
There is indeed a rock, and has Jesus’ power in it.

It’s called the Catholic Church.
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I realize that, this piece of rock Popoff is giving out is not anything special though, it looks like one of those kitchen counter top sample pieces, Popff claims it comes from Cuppernia (which I really doubt btw).
 
Catholic1954 said:
If one thinks he can own the “power of Jesus” for $24.99 + shipping, then there is not much the law of common sense can do about it.
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The sneaky thing is though, Popoff or any of them never ask for money right away, they usually ask people to call in for some trinket, water, oil, etc. and once they have your name/address, they realize you took action to get this thing sent to you, meaning you believe what they are saying…afterwards is when the request for money begins, they will send out letters or even personally call people, tell them JEsus told me in a dream, if Joe Smith writes a check for $850. to Popoffs ministry, Jesus will ‘release’ prosperity ten times that amount.

Some of the testimonials are absolutely ridiculous and comical, “P. Popoff told me Jesus would release my money between August 3rd- August 10th, and miraculously I found out $50K had been deposited into my bank acct on August 5th, no one knew where it came from…PRAISE GOD”.

The only thing I wonder about, these guys have been doing this for decades, yet God sends no warnings to them, nothing, and what they are doing is EXTREMELY evil/ immoral, they go well beyond sinning, they are literally perverting Gods word for greed…We believe God is truly just but Popoff gets exposed as a fraud, yet few years later, he is bringing in $24 million a year, networks allow him air time, etc etc…? LOL

I hope there is a special place in hell for guys like this.
 
JonNC said:
Just what you did here in the OP: expose, expose, expose! The may very well be lurkers who have come across this thread inclined to this kind of thing. Maybe you made them think twice. 👍

Jon
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Yes thats true, maybe 25 yrs from now, someone will be lurking around here that was considering giving money, do a search on this and think twice!

I was actually thinking about that the other day, long after I am dead and gone, (granted CAF is still around), all the stuff Ive posted will ‘live on’ forever in cyberspace, and its possible someone 100 yrs in the future will be reading them!
 
mikekle said:
Yes thats true, maybe 25 yrs from now, someone will be lurking around here that was considering giving money, do a search on this and think twice!

I was actually thinking about that the other day, long after I am dead and gone, (granted CAF is still around), all the stuff Ive posted will ‘live on’ forever in cyberspace, and its possible someone 100 yrs in the future will be reading them!
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Makes me stop and think twice about what I post. :o

Jon
 
JonNC said:
Makes me stop and think twice about what I post. :o

Jon
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It should. Long after we’re gone what we’ve done online will linger here for decades if not longer.

It’s actually somewhat comforting to me. I’ve found videos my aunt who passed away a few months back for example made as part of her job that I’d never seen before.To find new things out about her and her work years after the fact and to hear her voice again too in a way is an amazing gift. As though little part of her continues to be present on Earth even if her soul has moved on. :o

The dark side of that being that some of the scamming these prosperity charlatans do remains behind as well. John Osteen may not have been as theologically ambivalent as his son has become, but he was still a somewhat a prosperity preacher, and his sermons are still floating around the net almost 20 years after his death.
 
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