it’s blockin’ the whole convoy of troops ... General George roars up, pulls that ivory- handled revolver out ... and he shoots the donkey. ...
“There’s a spiritual application here. ... I want to say to all you scribes, pharisees, heresy-hunters, all of you that are around pickin’ little bits of doctrinal error out of everybody’s eyes and dividin’ the Body of Christ ... get out of God’s way, stop blockin’ God’s bridges, or God’s goin’ to shoot you if I don’t ... let Him sort out all this doctrinal doodoo!”
“I don’t care about your doctrines as long as you name the name of Jesus, as long as you believe He died dead [sic] and was buried but came out of the tomb on Sunday morning and ascended to the Father ... I don’t care about anything else! Let’s join hands ... to get this gospel preached in all the world. “
“The rest of this stuff is what Paul the Apostle calls dung—human excrement! It’s not worth anything! Get rid of it ... and get on with winning the lost. “
“I refuse to argue any longer with any of you out there! Don’t even call me if you want to argue doctrine, if you want to straighten somebody out ... Get out of my life! I don’t even want to talk to you ... I don’t want to see your ugly face!” (As quoted in Foundation Magazine, March-April 1991, from a transcript of Crouch’s Praise the Lord show.)
Trend Two: Increasingly bold claims of the miraculous
The average person unfamiliar with the varieties of religious beliefs of Protestantism would not be aware that the people they see on TBN are not representative of the fundamental beliefs of most of the denominations in the United States. They are almost all part of what is termed the Charismatic Movement. And most would be identified, even by denominations that consider themselves Charismatic (such as the Assemblies of God), as being on the extreme fringe of the movement. A “mainstream” Charismatic believes that miraculous incidents, including instant healings and deliverance from demons, did not end in the first century after the death of the Apostles, but continue to this day. And he believes that the “gift of tongues”—the ability to speak in an “unknown language” in prayer or in a church service—is also for today.
Those on the outer fringes of Charismatic belief, however, not only believe these things are possible, they insist that astounding healings—on the order of curing AIDS, and sight returning to one born blind, and quadriplegic polio victims walking again—are, or should be, everyday occurrences. They insist that “power encounters” with the supernatural demonic forces of the Devil do occur in public crusades attended by hundreds of thousands around the world, accompanied by astonishing signs and wonders. And they are convinced that uncontrollable laughter, violent shaking, or the uncontrollable urge to make animal-like sounds (such as roaring like a lion or crowing like a rooster) among large numbers of people at a religious gathering is evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit in great power.
Some of these unusual activities are actually shown on certain programs on TBN, such as the broadcasts from the public appearances of healing evangelist Benny Hinn. But many viewers seem unaware that all the regulars on TBN shows are either involved with or supportive of this brand of what some have dubbed “Hyper-Charismania.”
The problem with these claims of the miraculous is that they are bold—but in most cases utterly unsubstantiated. For instance, a number of researchers over the last few decades have attempted to contact various Charismatic ministries and get medical documentation regarding healings that were claimed to have happened at crusades. Just because someone tells Benny Hinn on a stage in Atlanta, Georgia, that he believes that he has been healed of cancer doesn’t make it so. It is undeniable that no astonishing, inexplicable, instantaneous healings, such as a withered arm on a crippled child being “made whole,” have ever been caught on film. And none of the researchers have been provided with clear medical documentation for the grandiose claims of the miraculous. This does not mean, of course, that God doesn’t heal. It merely means that the incredible level of hype surrounding certain ministries, which attempts to validate that God is blessing the ministry because of the astonishing miracles claimed, is open to hard questioning.
In all too many cases, Charismatic preachers don’t establish their teachings clearly on scripture. Instead, they build them around experience, the kind of subjective experiences described above. A Roman Catholic and a Methodist used to believe that their theological differences were so serious that they were unable to view each other as “brothers in the faith.” But if Christian brotherhood is not based on biblical truth, but on contemporary experience of what is believed to be a manifestation of the miraculous, then the barriers between denominations disappear. And you have one homogenized group of people. If speaking in tongues, or rolling on the floor of a church service convulsed with “Holy Laughter,” is evidence of someone being “saved” or “filled with the Holy Ghost,” then all who manifest these things must agree that “doctrine isn’t important.” And if doctrine isn’t important, why waste much time trying to teach doctrinal concepts from the Bible? This seems to be the approach of many of the teachers on the Trinity Broadcasting Network.
Trend Three: Greed and Gullibility
So what do the TBN preachers talk about? Watch long enough and it will become obvious. There is precious little about “suffering for righteousness’ sake,” or “turning the other cheek,” or giving generously to the poor. What there is a lot of is—the promise of health, wealth, and prosperity. Viewers are bombarded with a constant message that God’s greatest wish for them is not an intimate walk with Jesus, and the growth within of the fruit of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, goodness, meekness, and temperance). No, His greatest wish is that they always be healthy and wealthy. And if they aren’t, there is something wrong. In fact, what is likely wrong is that they haven’t “sown good seed” so that God can send them a harvest of health and prosperity. How does one sow such seed? Why, by sending it to the one who is teaching you about health and prosperity! (That certainly guarantees the teacher’s chances of prosperity, anyway!)
And thus this troubling trend of greed and gullibility grows. The preacher becomes a wealthy superstar. And his listeners, believing his spiel that he got that way by “sowing seed,” want to become like him. So they sow their seed to him. Which makes him a wealthier superstar. And makes them … poorer but no wiser. Numerous investigative reports on some of these superstar televangelists in recent years have documented for the public the incredibly lavish lifestyles they live, and the frequently deceptive methods they use to get there. Sometimes such reports affect donations to the ministries of such televangelists for a time. But the human ability to believe illusions has insured that almost every one of them has been able to rebound, and get gullible viewers to go right back to sending in money to support the lavish lifestyle of the televangelist. (Details on some of these shameful shenanigans can be seen in the Who’s Who Digest chapter.) Religious hucksters have been around since the first century, of course. But they used to exist around the fringes of society, preying on a limited few. Now they are peddling their wares in a setting accessible to the majority of living rooms in America, 24 hours a day.
Trend Four: The Walmart-izing of the local church scene
In the 1970s and earlier, most American towns and cities had a variety of churches, and each one of them filled a unique niche in the community. Even the largest seldom had congregations over 500 or so. If a church got much bigger than that, it would be common for it to spawn a sister congregation on the other side of town. This is much like the business sector of towns during the same time period. A wide variety of local businesses would fill the needs of local shoppers, from grocery stores to pharmacies, hardware stores, clothing stores, toy stores, and more. If a town was large enough, it might even support a grocery store on each end of town, catering to the needs of the surrounding neighborhoods.
And
