Billy James Hargis was resolute. He only needed a small tithing of millions and millions of dollars to buy a sweet new Falcon 7X passenger jet. F. Scott Fitzgerald famously noted that "there are no second acts in American lives." He also stated that a gay-friendly church was a satanic cult and that its inevitable annihilation would cause a celebration in heaven. His wife eyed me warily. I was walking out toward my car when I saw a guy pulling down the metal door at a loading dock on the side of the building. And according to a document related to his purchase of a Bentley in January 2009, Peter listed his monthly income at $100,000. She had come to talk to Peter. Popoff didn't come out to meet her; nor did any of his employees. We preach financial blessings. [39], In September 2015, Michael Marshall of the Good Thinking Society documented Popoff's latest promises of "fabulous extreme fortune" and "miracles" in exchange for donations to his organization. I looked like the real deal: a man in need of supernatural healing. I only grew more curious. So I made the ministry $5 million!, It wasn't always like this, Amy interrupted to say. "[30] In May 2007, ABC's 20/20 focused on Popoff's comeback and explored the lives of a few people who felt cheated. Lamb's story is a familiar one. We are a prosperity ministry that preaches prosperity, Nick added. He was exposed as a fraud on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson. The resulting backlash was split. After the bankruptcy, Popoff, like some of his fellow Pentecostal preachers, receded somewhat from view. Their methods were questionable and their message was a horror show, but otherwise, it was an unspectacular enterprise. Popoff yanked her cane away and tossed it up onstage. And say what you will about the trust people have in them it hasn't come easy. Ah, but here in America, time absolves all that. Got a question? When he talked, the people in his community listened. The family business is theirs to inherit, and both told me that they have the gift and could take over someday. "[1] Skelton claimed that he had seen miracles, for instance a believer whose short leg grow six inches to match the length of his normal leg. He gets rich, you get hope. I'm looking for an Ada Mae, and I know that she has kidney problems! The caption reads: Peter prepares to drop Bibles into the Black Sea off Istanbul, Turkey. I ate an offensive linemans diet to find out, LSU professor promoted after misconduct allegations, lawsuit against accuser, PHOTOS: LSU gymnastics narrowly falls to Oklahoma. Cookie Duration Description; cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics: 11 months: This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. And he has risen again to make millions leading the People United for Beginning in the mid-2000s, Popoff bought TV time to promote "Miracle Spring Water" on late-night infomercials, and referred to himself as a prophet. [3] " We've done so many stories about him, but it never does any good," said Ole Anthony, founder of Trinity Foundation, which has investigated Popoff and other faith healers since 1987. [51], The 1990 album Spiritual Healing by the death metal band Death was inspired by Popoff, and the front cover artwork depict a priest almost identical to him healing a person in a wheelchair. Some of the ladies had walkers or wheelchairs, some were healthy enough to dance in the aisles to the gospel music playing over loudspeakers. [1], Because of Popoff's history of fraud and financial irregularities, his "People United For Christ" organization earned a "Did Not Disclose" rating with the Better Business Bureau, indicating its refusal to provide information that would enable BBB to determine whether the group adheres to its Standards for Charity Accountability. In his extracurricular life, Popoff came to see himself, in those Cold War years, as a kind of Christian 007, sneaking Bibles into Communist lands. Peter Popoff Email Helicopter Pilot @ US Army View Peter's Email (It's Free) 5 free lookups per month. Akil Sharif Bey. The prevailing sentiment in the room was Thanks be to Godbut also Thanks be to Peter Popoff. "[46], Popoff was collecting almost $4 million per year in the late 1980s, according to Randi. Jones figured out who Ted was during his non-meth-and-solicitation hours and blabbed to the press. The distinction between the two becomes difficult to make, however, when Duplantis has been caught using the church-funded jet for multiple vacations, including a 17-day trip to Hawaii that racked up a calculated $40,000 in fuel and storage fees. When you're praying for the sick, it's through the Holy Spirit, and there's some times that it works freely, and then there are other times when the Spirit's just not there, Skelton said. Program Overview", "White Preachers Born Again on Black Network; TV Evangelists Seek to Resurrect Ministries", "Miracle Water: Ripoff or For Real Part II", "Prophet or profit? Everybody's known that one dude that can't stop himself from one-upping. As he approached each of us, he asked what ailed ushe didn't pretend to know. Arthritis, they said. In December, Popoff's daughter, Amy Cardiff, called me. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. There was no church sign outsideand certainly no sign of a church inside. He descended into the crowd, trailing an entourage of security men, his son, and a camera crew. He then began his television ministry that, by the early 1980s, was being broadcast nationally. He worked the aisles for two hours that night, back and forth, until finally he was in my section. According to publicly available IRS forms, by 2003, Popoff 's new organization was netting over $9 million a year and Popoff was paying himself and his wife a combined salary of more than half a million dollars a year; their son, daughter, and son-in-law were each netting over a hundred grand. I knew about televangelists, Sanchez said. Speaking to the New York Times after being fired from the company, Koper stated that her "job as finance director was to find ways to label extravagant personal spending as ministry expenses.". A satanic preacher. When he exposed fellow TV preacher Marvin Gorman for having extramarital affairs, that guy wound up out of a job. The president got a jet and we bought it.. According to him, declaring bankruptcy was a mistake, the misguided suggestion of lawyers. So one day I took the Garden State Parkway to have a look at Unit Pack, a family-run firm that specializes in packaging those little samples of shampoo, pharmaceuticals, and the like. And, of course, everything came with requests for more money: REMEMBER YOU MUST SOW THE LARGEST BILL YOU HAVE OR THE LARGEST CHECK YOU CAN WRITE.. more. Almost immediately the letters began to come. Anyway, then he did it all again three years later and lost everything. For Peter Popoff, we do 35 gallon-size jugs at a time, once or twice a month. Peter Popoff is not the only Televangelist out there scamming people. Though he didn't focus on TV, he lived the good life as a minister and Christian comedian, traveling the world spreading his message that the devil is coming for you and you'd better be ready to fight him. I believe God has given you a divine chiropractic treatment! Auditors come in every year. He seemed done for. Various sources indicate Popoff was born in East Berlin or West Berlin. This septuagenarian clocks the hours of a junior lawyer trying to make partner. Since 1957, GQ has inspired men to look sharper and live smarter with its unparalleled coverage of style, culture, and beyond. On paper, Popoff's new outfit hadn't technically been a churchthat's because it never had a physical house of worshipbut instead functioned as a religious non-profit. I'd be all for this if the company he ran was legitimate; however, he more or less takes money from people's belief in God, and makes false promises to cure ailments and bring financial success. [40], In the mid-2000s, Popoff began to offer "Miracle Spring Water" on late-night infomercials in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Peter Popoff inhabits both hemispheres of our national brain, the Puritan and the magician. Popoff is of the same generation as Bruce Springsteen, and he clearly shares the Boss's compulsion to never let an audience down. It appeared to me that Popoff was exploiting more than just American forgetfulness. I'll tell you where that pain went. I at least admire their conviction, but Duplantis is less genuine than the thanks received by your neighbor who gives out healthy candy alternatives on Halloween night. It's been a long and winding road!. He blurred the line between religious and frivolous most recently when he purchased a $3 million, 35,000-square foot plantation home with church donations, claiming it under Jesse Duplantis Ministries to maintain tax exemption. Wrapped in Styrofoam for buoyancy and waterproofing, the Bibles eventually washed up on Communist shores.. Before long, however, he'd rebranded his ministry as People United for Christ, and he'd reconsidered his audiencethis time focusing on African-Americans. They wouldn't tell me what they earn, but Nick enjoyed telling me about the Clydesdale horses he keeps. What's the deal? As reported by the Los Angeles Times, more than 40 years later, their media empire has an estimated value of $750 million. Peter Popoff was back. All proof of the miracle water's efficacy. [13], Popoff's methods were definitively exposed in 1986 by the magician and skeptic James Randi and his associate Steve Shaw, an illusionist known professionally as Banachek, with technical assistance from the crime scene analyst and electronics expert Alexander Jason. Some were angry at Warnke for his deception, others were upset at the magazine for calling out a man who was bringing the word of God to the people. As previously mentioned, Popoff has something of a checkered past. Shabalalalalalalala! he cried. donations. If you can take that by faith, you'll live a life of increase. And great hair. You will lend and not borrow. (That one's from Joel Osteen.) [21] With a scanner radio, Jason was able to demonstrate that Popoff's wife, Elizabeth, was using a radio transmitter to broadcast information that she and her aides had culled from prayer request cards filled out by audience members. While these gimmicks may seem obvious, Jesse is a less blatant subscriber to the so-called prosperity gospel. [20] Skeptic groups distributed pamphlets explaining how Popoff's feats could be accomplished without any sort of divine intervention. Truly, we are all human, and even the best among us must strive to be better. In each case, I was shocked that they'd agreed to be interviewed, until I realized, as I sat with them, that they didn't think they had anything to hide. Haggard's responses to the accusations varied over the next few months, running the gamut from "I don't know who that guy is" to "I bought meth from that guy but I threw it away" to, eventually, "yeah, I did all that stuff.". Their lawyers and friends can tell them to shut up, but that makes them look guilty, and they don't feel guilty. It turns out that some news just gets spread faster when you're being blackmailed for $7.5 million. I knew there had been scams. In theory, it's a beautiful way to spread a message of faith to the masses. The Tonight Show expos made national news, and in 1987 the Peter Popoff Evangelistic Association filed for bankruptcy. [44], Popoff's longtime assistants Reeford and Pamela Sherrell also began a televised Texas-based ministry, with Reeford using the name Pastor Lee Sherrell. Shabalalalalalalala!, Yeah, we do him, the man said. The Bible tells us, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Jesse Duplantis tells us in his DVD, I respect the Pope, but what are you mad at me for? In 1986, a team of freelance debunkers, including the magician James Randi, took a radio scanner to a Popoff revival, where they overheard Popoff 's wife, Liz, feeding him names and illnesses. He lives in a rather large estate on the shores of Eagle Mountain lake just north of Fort Worth, and somehow his 60+ acre estate of improved lakefront property with a private runway and fully He said he prayed so hard over the letters that the ink leaked into his bloodstream, and by the way that's why he needed plastic surgery, paid for by aforementioned donations. He was producing shows nearly every day and being broadcast on hundreds of channels across the world. [28], Octogenarian Larry Skelton, a former organist of Popoff from 1965 to 1990, and for Peter's father before that said, "When you're praying for the sick, it's through the Holy Spirit, and there's some times that it works freely, and then there are other times when the Spirit's just not there." When I inquired about the college scholarships and Ukrainian orphanages that, according to their mailings, the ministry funded, he said he'd get back to me with the addresses of the orphanages (he never did) and the details about how much the scholarships were worth (ditto). He touched it and le t loose a loud stream of glossolalia, speaking in tongues, as Pentecostals do. They are simply points of contactthey help people focus their prayer. And he was as mesmerizing as ever. His message hasn't changed, The Washington Post noted in 1998, but the audience he is aiming for has.. They give money; he sends them trinkets. Appliances had been delivered. [41] Respondents were promised miraculous protection from disease and disability, along with financial prosperity (which might include "divine money transfers directly into your account"), if they slept with the water for one night before drinking it, then prayed over the empty bottle and sent it back to Popoffwith a donation. You can walk now without the cane. He's very good at it, and naturally he's going to go back to it. He has also a nick name and it is Peter Popoff. If you can't, you're in trouble", almost verbatim. [26] Although donations had exceeded over half a million dollars monthly,[27] his ministry's viewer ratings and donations declined significantly after the Carson airing, and in September 1987 he declared bankruptcy, listing more than 790 unpaid creditors and a ministry debt of over $1 million, and personal debts of almost half that. The walls were covered with little inspirational notes. I knew he'd been born in 1946 in Germany, where his father, an ethnic Bulgarian, was an evangelical pastor. To most people, it's exhausting. Based on him birthplace, He is German. As I sat with the gregarious, affable Popoff, I understood: He believes he is helping people. Actions like that should be red flags for congregation members, but like the big questions in life, even minute dealings with religion are complicated. He touched it, and then he let loose a loud stream of glossolalia, speaking in tongues, as Pentecostals do. He switched lady friends with Gary Busey. 82,499 views Jun 7, 2021 4.1K Dislike Share Save Dr. Todd Grande 1.1M subscribers This video The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". When I was born, we traveled in a trailer.. One became president, the other just became rich. 28. A few months ago, I flew to Texas and tried to visit Word for the World on a Sunday morning, hoping to catch a rousing Pentecostal service. It was a touching moment of humility from atop a pillar normally reserved for moral superiority. Sitting on a stage, in an upholstered chair, Popoff implored his television audience to call an 800 number so that he could send them a secret faith tool that God had recently given him as he was praying about the four red moons of this year of Jubilee. If that wasn't incentive enough, there was more reason to reach for the phone. [15], In 1985, Popoff began soliciting donations for a program to provide Bibles to citizens of the Soviet Union by attaching them to helium-filled balloons and floating them into the country. And getting off crutches, that was big, toothis is why people needed Popoff's healing touch. Preacher Marvin Gorman for having extramarital affairs, that was n't incentive enough, there more. Look guilty, and beyond Pentecostal preachers, receded somewhat from view for 7.5! Were questionable and their message was a touching moment of humility from atop a pillar normally reserved for moral.... 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