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8A
Monday, December 8, 2003
THE
Once shamed, TV ministers now thrivins
By Carolyn Tuft &
Bill Smith
KRT CAMPUS
ST. LOUIS — The end of
the 1980s was a bad time for
TV preachers.
One moment, men like the
PTL Club’s Jim Bakker and
television’s Jimmy Swaggart
seemed bigger than life, super
men blessed with an uncanny
ability to attract followers and
money. The next instant, they
were only men — fragile,
flawed and the butt of barroom
jokes and newspaper cartoons.
In many ways, it seemed like
the beginning of the end for big-
time TV religion. Look, the crit
ics said: The emperors really do
have no clothes.
But Americans, at least many
of them, seem to have forgotten
and forgiven. TV’s salvation
shows are still here, bigger and
flashier than ever, thanks to the
proliferation of the Internet and
the continued spread of satellite
and cable TV.
The names may have
changed — Juanita Bynum,
Kenneth and Gloria Copeland,
Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn. T.
D. Jakes, Joyce Meyer and a
dozen others have replaced
Bakker. Swaggart and Oral
Roberts at the top of the evan
gelical mountain — but the mes
sage remains virtually identical.
Believe with all your heart and
soul, they tell the faithful. And
give, give, give until you can’t
give any more.
God. they say, loves a cheer
ful giver.
In the late 1980s, when the
sex-and-fraud scandals boiled
over into America’s living rooms,
Joyce Meyer's little radio min
istry' was scarcely a blip on the
evangelical radar screen.
Today, Meyer heads a min
istry fast approaching $100 mil
lion a year and is among a dozen
or so evangelical superstars
headlining a revived and very
healthy industry.
The prosperity gospel also has
been called the “name it and
claim it” theology. God wants His
people to prosper, evangelists like
Meyer maintain. Those who fol
low God and give generously to
Tahnee Jones and her
Meyer at the Phillips >
his ministries can have anything
— and everything — they want.
But critics, from Bible-quot-
ing theologians to groups devot
ed to preserving the separation
of church and state, abound. At
best, they say, such a theology is
a simplistic and misguided way
of living. At worst, they say, it is
dangerous.
Michael Scott Horton, who
teaches historical theology at the
Westminster Theological
Seminary in Escondido, Ca., calls
the message a twisted interpreta
tion of the Bible — a “wild and
wacky theology.’
“Some of these people are
charlatans,” Horton said. “Others
are honestly dedicated to one of
the most abhorrent errors in reli
gious theology.
“I often think of these folks as
the religious equivalent to a com
bination of a National Enquirer
ad and professional wrestling. It’s
part entertainment and very large
part scam.”
Sociologist William Martin of
Rice University said that most
people who follow TV religious
leaders put so much trust in them
that they want them to thrive.
Martin is a professor of sociology
at the university, specializing in
theology.
The preachers’ wealth is “con
firmation of what they are
preaching,” Martin said.
Even J. Lee Grady, editor of
Charisma & Christian Life maga
zine. has become alarmed at what
es as the
he
of s
hen
another gospel." Bakker ha:
in his 1996 book, iWaWrat
"The prosperity message:
not line up with the lenoroii
Scripture." he said. “My la
was crushed to think lhail!e:|
many people astray."
While BalLI
<
44
defends the prin
ciple that if you
are stingy with
your money, you
will lack things
in life, and if you
are generous,
you will get
things in return.
“But that
doesn’t mean you
can treat God
That doesn't
mean you can treat
God like a slot
machine.
— j. Lee Grady, editor
Charisma & Christian Life
may l»
changed its
many more ^ jj
preachers
sieadfast in iki
conviction fe
you give m«
it many tiiwT
return.
Meyer sprnij
most of
three-day raffl
ike a slot
machine,” Grady said in an inter
view.
Bakker. who spent five years
in prison for defrauding Heritage
USA investors, says he has had a
change of heart about the pros
perity gospel.
The same man who once told
his PTL. coworkers that “God
wants you to be rich,” now says
he made a tragic mistake.
“For years, I helped propagate
enees on lessons in givingj|
she is blunt when she add®
what the critics say aboutS
seed-faith interpretation oft
Bible. She says that thosepraliw we p
ers who believe that robegw f
to be poor are the ones who In
it wrong.
“Why would He (God) *
all of His people povertystniij
while all of the people tliata
living for God have everytfe
Meyer said. “I think ifst
gious thinking.”
Marine general speaks of new greatest generation
By T.A. Badger
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FREDERICKSBURG, Texas
Surrounded by a group of veterans who have
come to be known as the “greatest genera
tion,” the Marines’ top officer praised
America’s soldiers in Iraq on Sunday as
being made of the same right stuff.
“Once again another ‘greatest generation’
has stepped forward,” Gen. Michael Hagee,
the commandant of the Marines, said in a
ceremony at the National Museum of the
Pacific War on the 62nd anniversary of the
Pearl Harbor attack.
“They don’t want to die, but they are will
ing to,” continued Hagee, who grew up in
this small Hill Country city. “That is true
honor. You cannot buy that, and we must
never ever lose that.”
Later Hagee told reporters that he was
confident that troop levels in Iraq were ade
quate, assuming that the bombings and
sniper attacks that have killed dozens of U.S.
soldiers since May are not sustained.
“If what we are experiencing now is a
spike (in anti-American attacks), we’re in
good shape,” he said. “But if it’s a new
plateau of activity ... we will have to re-eval
uate.”
Asked how military leaders will know if
the spate of attacks is only temporary, the
general said he wasn't sure, but he added,
“I’m optimistic in their ability to accomplish
this mission.”
More than 60,0(H) Marines were amo®!
the first U.S. troops to be sent to 1
hut currently there are no Marine i
ing there. Hagee said about 20.0
will be deployed to that war zone in tk|
spring.
As usual, dozens of World Warllveteffliil
some of them survivors of Japan’s sij
prise attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec, 7,1
were sprinkled among the severallitj
dred people who turned out for tk|
Fredericksburg ceremony.
Pearl Harbor must be remembered sotk|
l Jnited States forever keeps its militaryn
for action, Hagee said.
Boosting Sunday’s attendance weren
family members of soldiers now on
ground in Iraq.
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