I am totally appalled at what I just saw on cable TV. Is anyone...

[YvonneCa]

...here familiar with inspirationtoday.com, the Cerrulos or Mike Murdock? I was channel surfing looking for a movie to watch, and I happened across...what I define as a 'snake-oil salesman' (I think his name is Mike Murdoch)in an info-mercial trying to steal money from the ignorant or un-witting followers of Cerullo. He talked of 'end of days' (which I don't like, but is not illegal with religious freedom)...but he then went on to bilk money from viewers by talking of 'seed' and 'harvest' definitions from the Bible.

How does a person like this get air time for such a scam? Aren't there laws against this stuff?

Here's a like to the website: https://www.inspirationtoday.com/onlinegiving/uncommonseed.aspx

[Hokie]

1. The TV ministers are all scum

We have a local 24 hour religious channel. I love the new TV's that let you program out channels. }(

[Clovis Sangrail]

2. ALL TV preachers are 'snake-oil' salesmen.

I've never really understood how people don't see them as grifters.

[timtom]

4. Many people are desperate.

And stupid.

[DonEBrook]

3. Murdock is a freelance fundraiser who gets hired by dozens of different

televangelists who don't have the sales skills he does to extract money from idiots. The guy, whatever else he is, is good at his craft. Which is unfortunately completely legal as it comes under the aegis of religion. In any other occupation he would be indictable.

Edit: By the way most of those programs are re-broadcasted old videotapes from years ago. The message doesn't change and neither does the gullibility of the rubes who call in with their Visa card numbers.

[YvonneCa]

6. Thanks for the thoughtful comment. I guess what bothers me...

...is that the people he scams are mostly the elderly. It probably is all legal, as you say...it's just that the elderly should be protected from having their religion used as a weapon against them.

[MH1]

7. It's terrible.

I did a brief stint in a call center many many years ago. Sundays were the worst, because we'd get all these calls from people buying the garbage these "Christian" people were selling. Even though we were supposed to take their order and their credit card info and get them off the phone as quickly as possible, you weren't supposed to be downright rude, and sometimes you'd hear a bit of their story before you could get them off the phone. They were often older, sick people looking for something to cling to. It was horrible, and gave me a sickening feeling about certain so-called "Christian" churches.

I was pretty lousy at that job and quit after a few months, probably just before they fired me anyway.

[YvonneCa]

17. I would be lousy at it, too. Thanks...

...MH1. Usually I just skip past these shows, but this time I decided to listen for a while (BAD mistake :7). It was just so blatant. The guy actually told the audience to take out their wallets and pray over them with him. :hi:

[DonEBrook]

8. It is somewhat personal for me. My elderly aunt sent thousands of dollars to

Oral Roberts...(money she couldn't really spare) who was actually my 6 houses away neighbor for years and his son who later killed himself was a fairly good friend back in high school. I have seen the evil men like him do from close up.

[YvonneCa]

19. That is personal...and awful. I'm sorry...

...about your friend.

[deadmessengers]

5. I'm still trying to figure out how to make money from the year 2012 idiots.

Barnum was right - a fool and his money, and all that.

[Synicus Maximus]

9. These are pikers.

These guys have nothing on Reverend Ike. He had a Rolls for each day of the week, each in a different color. He had such famous sayings as "When I pass the collection plate I don't want none of that noisy money, I want the quite folding stuff" and "God helps those that helps themselves. Go out get a job and make money. And then send me some". He was a fraud, but he was an honest fraud, in that he told everyone what he used the money collected for and he did have style.

[leftofthedial]

10. religion is a con game.

the whole thing is snake oil.

I don't know where you could possibly draw a line in there and call one side of it "crime."

[Marr]

11. Hey, look at it this way:

Every dollar he scares out of his idiotic audience is a dollar they can't send to the GOP. I know there are religious people of all political stripes, but in my experience, the Republicans have a real lock on the cowardly and the stupid.

[jazzjunkysue]

12. I used to play this game with my daughter at the TV on sundays.

She'd be flipping channels over her cereal and find one of these charlatans, and I'd stop her there and say, "90 seconds."

"90 seconds, what?"

"I'll bet you he'll ask for money before another 90 seconds."

The numbers would always appear at the bottom of the screen.

Later, she'd play it with me.

[sendero]

13. The prosperity pimps...

... are not going to come out of this smelling like a rose, their flocks are getting fleeced and there will be no "abundant life" coming from the heavens to save them.

[nichomachus]

14. Unfortunately, people are just aching to send them money

I had a friend who was the minister in a very liberal church in a small NE city. This was back in the days when radio stations had to do public service. So, the local station asked him if they could broadcast his services. He said ok. They basically hung a mic over the pulpit and the regular service was broadcast on the tiny local station. My friend never asked for money from the radio people -- never really addressed them, except to acknowledge that there were people listening.

He was getting in the mail somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000 a month from people listening on the radio - without even asking them for the money. This was back in the '70s and that was an awful lot of money then.

So, imagine how much you can rake in, if you really target these people and play on their deepest fears.

[YvonneCa]

21. Fear like the 'end of days' , which is...

...what he did. There HAS to be a way to stop this.

[book_worm]

15. My terminally ill mother was taken in by Murdoch--he's a low life

one of those slick preachers who tell people they will sow the seeds they plant (meaning the more money you give him the bigger the return you will get), but the only one who gets enriched is Murdoch who typically shows up at events wearing a huge diamond ring and expensive suits.

[YvonneCa]

20. That's exactly what he was saying. 'Take out your wallets and pray...

...over them." Talked of seed money and the harvest. He wanted $1000 seed money from the audience on their charge cards. Disgusting.

[Oeditpus Rex]

16. Mike Murdock breaks me up

The faces he makes, man. He's like, "Whuuuuuut?" :D

[WeDidIt]

18. 100% legal and 100% tax-free

sad to say.

Religion is big business. Multi-billion dollar tax-free business, to be precise.