John Oliver, Televangelists, 'Nuff Said

[AthenaAwakened]

“This is about the churches that exploit people’s faith for monetary gain,” Oliver announced.

Yes, in 2015, televangelism is still thriving in America. Back in March, The Daily Beast reported on Creflo Dollar, a pastor who’d thoroughly convinced his loyal congregation that God wanted him to own a $65 million private jet, and wanted them to foot the bill.

Joining Dollar in his pursuit of the high life is Mike Murdock, a televangelist who shamelessly bragged in front of his congregation about purchasing not one, but two private jets with straight cash. And Kenneth Copeland, a televangelist who—along with his equally opportunistic wife, Gloria—calls his private jet a “preaching machine” that he uses only for church activities, yet was revealed to use it to fly to luxury ski resorts and gaming trips to India to hunt exotic animals.

All of these televangelists and more preach “The Prosperity Gospel” that, Oliver says, “argues that wealth is a sign of God’s favor, and donations will result in wealth coming back to you. That idea takes the form of ‘seed faith’—that donations are seeds that you will one day get to harvest.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...ngelists-fleecing-americans-for-millions.html

 

[RavenSky]

Did you call the number

 

[Thomas II]

Great show! A must watch! Religion is a scam and these guys are scam artists!

 

[fromderinside]

“This is about the churches that exploit people’s faith for monetary gain,” Oliver announced.

Yes, in 2015, televangelism is still thriving in America. Back in March, The Daily Beast reported on Creflo Dollar, a pastor who’d thoroughly convinced his loyal congregation that God wanted him to own a $65 million private jet, and wanted them to foot the bill.

Joining Dollar in his pursuit of the high life is Mike Murdock, a televangelist who shamelessly bragged in front of his congregation about purchasing not one, but two private jets with straight cash. And Kenneth Copeland, a televangelist who—along with his equally opportunistic wife, Gloria—calls his private jet a “preaching machine” that he uses only for church activities, yet was revealed to use it to fly to luxury ski resorts and gaming trips to India to hunt exotic animals.

Pope Francis requested prays from evangelicals ......

 

[nightwyrm]

Did you call the number

This is what you get when you call the number

https://soundcloud.com/user-950117376-873717325/outgoing-call-18008447475-20150816-232603

 

[Ford]

I've taken up an old hobby I used to have back in the day...watching televangelists for the sheer comic relief.

The ones on the Daystar Network are amazing. I could get rich just selling hair product to them.

 

[Angry Floof]

Did you call the number

This is what you get when you call the number

https://soundcloud.com/user-950117376-873717325/outgoing-call-18008447475-20150816-232603

:laughing-smiley-014

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I've taken up an old hobby I used to have back in the day...watching televangelists for the sheer comic relief.

Except when you hear about the cases of the people that made the absurd decision to give them money they don't really have to spend, the humor dies off. I think I recall seeing one of those pastors a number of years ago making an argument about being poor and that $100 not making that much of a difference anyway, so give it to him. The world would be better if they were all dead, preferably devoured by wild dogs.

Which is why I pray every night to the God of Entropy. Murder is wrong, but bad luck and chaos is the natural order of things, and a statistical eventuality. So the worst of luck and I hope the private jet you are flying falls from the sky.

 

[Ford]

I've taken up an old hobby I used to have back in the day...watching televangelists for the sheer comic relief.

Except when you hear about the cases of the people that made the absurd decision to give them money they don't really have to spend, the humor dies off. I think I recall seeing one of those pastors a number of years ago making an argument about being poor and that $100 not making that much of a difference anyway, so give it to him. The world would be better if they were all dead, preferably devoured by wild dogs.

[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbl79BbmpVg[/YOUTUBE]

 

[cornbread_r2]

Todd Coontz is a protege of Mike Murdock and I've heard both of them encourage listeners to sow their faith seeds for deliverance from credit card problems -- by placing their offering on their credit cards! And what do they advise if deliverance isn't immediately forthcoming? Sow more seeds!

 

[crispy]

They don't even have to hide the fact that they are scammers - they are so straightforward with their BS that the incredible part is that people jump the wagon, just because its got something to do with god.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

They don't even have to hide the fact that they are scammers - they are so straightforward with their BS that the incredible part is that people jump the wagon, just because its got something to do with god.

And many of them are desperate. Geesh, just play the lottery. At least you know that isn't fixed.

 

[Iznomneak]

It was definitely worth the 20 minutes to watch this video.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Holy shit, that was funny.

 

[AthenaAwakened]

This bit was GREAT and needed to be said. AND REPEATED!

 

[Tom Sawyer]

I found it disturbing to hear that such a thing as this "seed faith" actually exists. I understand it's utility as a business concept for those without morality and am fairly annoyed that I didn't come up with the idea first, but it's just a horrific thing for people to engage in.

I get the value of not allowing the government to dictate what is or is not a valid faith, but there really should be limits to that in order to outlaw this kind of blatant fraud and theft.

 

[gilly54]

This bit was a good example showing that human greed and gullibility knows no bounds. Wonderful.

I'd like to see a Part II showing how much money the IRS would collect if Congress amended the tax law by ending the un-Constitutional religious favouritism like the parsonage and property tax exemptions...

 

[Underseer]

I found it disturbing to hear that such a thing as this "seed faith" actually exists. I understand it's utility as a business concept for those without morality and am fairly annoyed that I didn't come up with the idea first, but it's just a horrific thing for people to engage in.

I get the value of not allowing the government to dictate what is or is not a valid faith, but there really should be limits to that in order to outlaw this kind of blatant fraud and theft.

Technically, the term for it is Prosperity Doctrine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology

What's interesting is that if you look at the basic tenets of prosperity doctrine (rich people deserve to be rich because they are more holy, poor people deserve to be poor because they are sinful), it lines up nicely with the beliefs of your average FOX News watcher.

 

[NobleSavage]

I found it disturbing to hear that such a thing as this "seed faith" actually exists. I understand it's utility as a business concept for those without morality and am fairly annoyed that I didn't come up with the idea first, but it's just a horrific thing for people to engage in.

I get the value of not allowing the government to dictate what is or is not a valid faith, but there really should be limits to that in order to outlaw this kind of blatant fraud and theft.

Technically, the term for it is Prosperity Doctrine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology

What's interesting is that if you look at the basic tenets of prosperity doctrine (rich people deserve to be rich because they are more holy, poor people deserve to be poor because they are sinful), it lines up nicely with the beliefs of your average FOX News watcher.

I've seen people get hooked into this. It's really sad.

I was a hotel once and had time to kill. There was some crazy Christian thing going on in one of the convention rooms. I though I'd sit in for fun. The guy (don't remember his name) was basically asking for cash donations and he was giving out pens blessed by god that you could used to write checks. Basically, implying you can write a check for a new BMW with one of these pens, just give me all your cash first.

 

[RavenSky]

R

I found it disturbing to hear that such a thing as this "seed faith" actually exists. I understand it's utility as a business concept for those without morality and am fairly annoyed that I didn't come up with the idea first, but it's just a horrific thing for people to engage in.

I get the value of not allowing the government to dictate what is or is not a valid faith, but there really should be limits to that in order to outlaw this kind of blatant fraud and theft.

Technically, the term for it is Prosperity Doctrine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology

What's interesting is that if you look at the basic tenets of prosperity doctrine (rich people deserve to be rich because they are more holy, poor people deserve to be poor because they are sinful), it lines up nicely with the beliefs of your average FOX News watcher.

And is the total opposite of the bible they all claim to follow.