The preachers getting rich from poor Americans

[Demovictory9]

Must read long article!



https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-47675301



Larry and Darcy Fardette donated to many televangelists

Televangelist Todd Coontz has a well-worn routine: he dresses in a suit, pulls out a Bible and urges viewers to pledge a very specific amount of money. "Don't delay, don't delay," he urges, calmly but emphatically.

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Crucially, he always refers to the money as a "seed" - a $273 seed, a $333 seed, a "turnaround" seed Coontz particularly compelling. He assured quick returns. He seemed like a results man.

And Larry needed some fast results.

The Fardette family was going through a tough time. Larry's daughter was seriously ill and he had health problems of his own. His construction business was struggling, and to make matters worse both his van and his car broke down irreparably within the same week. When a local junkyard offered him $600 for the van, he thumbed the bills thoughtfully and remembered Coontz's rousing speech.

Maybe he should invest the sum as a "seed"?

He instantly recalled the specific number that Coontz had repeated again and again: $273. It was a figure the preacher often used. "God gave me the single greatest miracle of my lifetime in one day, and the numbers two, seven and three were involved," he once said. It is also - perhaps not coincidentally - the number of Coontz's $1.38m condo in South Carolina, paid for by his church, Rockwealth, according to local TV channel WSOC-TV.

Larry has now come to realise there was no foundation to Coontz's promises that donated cash would multiply, but at the time the stirring speeches gave him hope. He did not see any other way out.

He sent off two cheques: one for $273 and another for $333, as requested. Then he waited for his miracle.

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And if the seeds never flourish? Some are told their faith is not strong enough, or they have hidden sin. In Larry's case, he often interpreted small pieces of good fortune - a gift of groceries from a neighbour, or the promise of a few extra hours of work for his wife, Darcy - as evidence of fruition.

He estimates he gave about $20,000 to these operators over the years. A little here, a little there. A few years ago, he started tallying it all up. The list is like a who's who of all the established players, including those who have made headlines for their lavish lifestyles - those such as Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar, who have asked followers to fund their private jets.


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His daughter's health, which had long been poor, had become critical. Larry had promised to help her financially, but his "seeds" had not flourished. He wrote a heart-wrenching, five-page letter to several ministries he had contributed to over the years, pleading for help.

"We had been faithful to these ministries. They called us partners, friends, family," he explains today. "We thought they'd be there for us."

In the letter, he detailed how his daughter's health insurance would not cover the extensive and costly treatment she needed. One doctor had suggested they waited for her organs to fail, as only then would he be able to intervene.

"As a father, I am presently helpless," he wrote. "Would you please consider sponsorship to save our daughter's life?"

The replies drifted in. Some were instant email responses, others came through the post after prompting. All were rejections. "They said things like, 'Our ministry mandate prevents us from helping you,'" he recalls. He remembers the reaction of one specific office manager, from a ministry that had publicised its funding of medical treatments in the US: "In a haughty voice, she took a deep breath and said: 'You know we get six or seven of these calls a week and if we help you, we are going to have to help everyone.'"

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It was during these sessions that Ole started to note a common thread. When people were on the verge of homelessness in the heart of the Bible belt, a surprising number offered the last of their cash to televangelists who promised them financial salvation.

[LonePirate]

1. How are these televangelists not arrested on fraud charges? Too much kowtowing to religion I suppose

[TeamPooka]

2. I keep telling my wife I want to start a church. It's a booming business.

[Karadeniz]

3. I have never known a church to teach the Didache, one of Christianity's earliest documents.

My favorite part is a warning for the community to beware of teachers who come and demand agape after agape feasts. It seems that it's been known for a couple thousand years or so that counterfeit preachers prey upon the trusting.

[leftyladyfrommo]

4. Those guys have been doing that even before TV.

They used to have revivals in tents.

There were several big names who made a mint during the war years and depression. People liked being able to get away from their troubles for a while. There were a couple of famous women preachers. They wore long white robes and looked like angels. Aimee Semple McPherson had s big temple in Los Angeles. There was another one too. She had red hair and she used to faint a lot. Kathryn Kuhlman. we used to watch her, too.

And then came TV. My brother and I used to watch Oral Roberts heal people. With TV they could reach thousands. It was a Godsend.

What they all had in common was greed.