In Canada we’ve always had American TV channels, and I used to flip thru and see these hucksters. These people and productions were hilariously over the top. But they took money from the people least able to afford it. I thought of these so-called preachers as being like the late-night psychics that also preyed on vulnerable people. Hmmm…prayed and preyed…
For a great sendup of mega church nonsense, check out the show The Righteous Gemstones.
Jim Bakker got out of prison and back to scamming people again. (Tammy Faye was, I think, a True Believer but I doubt Jim is.) Let’s not forget the original-Billy Graham. He’s gone but his son Franklin (who hated the whole religion thing up until he found out how well it paid) continues the scam. Joel Osteen, who personally makes me want to smack his smug face and throw up, still scamming people.
And a number more.
I like what George Carlin said. “God. All powerful, all knowing, but he needs money! Omnipotent, almighty- can’t handle money!”
Yeah, the original mass scammer. His son raked in a lot of taxpayer money through his “shepherd’s purse” field hospitals in NYC while refusing to treat queer people. A real peach.
Billy Graham is the first one who came to mind. He was the alpha and the omega for my grandmother. And my mother liked Osteen. Isn’t he the one who wouldn’t open up his church after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans? Real godly of him… 🤦🏾♀️ I can’t understand how so many people can’t see right through their BS.
Good riddance. I’m white and I didn’t know that they were popular with Black Americans. My parents raised me high church Christian (Episcopal and Lutheran) in the 70s and 80s, I got kicked out of confirmation class for falling asleep and being too autistic and asking a lot of questions that made people uncomfortable. Ended up converting to Buddhism at 30…in my sect at least questioning was welcomed and I didn’t have to check my critical thinking at the door. In our family these folks were always mentioned with an eye roll 🙄 and seen as grifters and I spent my teen years just wondering WTF anyone saw in these folks while carefully keeping that opinion to myself in public. America has a cult problem. White people seem particularly vulnerable to it because we traded our indigenous traditions for white supremacy long ago but the soul still hungers for real spiritual community. The televangelists have been happy to provide a facsimile via Christian nationalism. God help them…because these preachers sure won’t.
He was a preacher, but also a showman, a marketer, a master manipulator of the American psyche. He understood that religion on TV wasn’t just about God, it was about drama, music, lighting, emotion, sales.
The Two Biggest Scumbag Televangelists of that time Jim “ I date raped Jessica Hahn” Bakker and Peter “Theatrical Snake Oil” Popoff are STILL alive today which as far as I’m concerned is a travesty. Bakker I swear is suffering from some form of Dementia and is completely lost in his own delusions while Popoff is still running the same Shtick fake healer scam to this day and seems to have gotten away with Swindling people out of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Your honesty is soooo refreshing. I would add Rod Parsley to your list, Paula White, Benny Hinn… followed in the footsteps of Swaggert and impacted a “small segment” of black church and black faith… now Paula White don't need her black church no more now that she's ascended to MAGA’s Pastor and Priestess!!! I'm upgrading to paid!!!
I forgot Rod Parsley. I had a friend who knew him; he figured out how much he could make as a preacher, and “got religion.” Before that he was in sales. Once a grifter, always a grifter.
I’m a Black Pentecostal who absolutely Despises and Hates Dubya with every fiber of my being, I quit listening to Paula White during the 2006 Midterms after she kept grifting the “All Muslims are Terrorists” Xenophobic Bullshit, when she started asking her viewers to pray Psalms 119 against President Obama in 2009, that’s when my Mom gave up on her and when a lot of Black Pentecostals snubbed and abandoned her.
White is a Grifter. She was close friends with Laura Bush and was key to turning out so many Evangelicals in 2004 to the polls.
I hate The 700 Club and all their cast of bad makeup characters.
I remember my mother got real sick around the time The 700 Club was at its height with Jimmy and Tammy. The doctors could not find anything wrong with mom, and I deduced that she was an overworked single Black mother without much emotional and financial support, which took a horrible toll on mom. No dad to rub her head in the hospital. Nobody sophisticated enough to talk to medical providers on her behalf. I was 13 and thought my mother was going to die. She was so ill... just sick and tired until mom eventually felt well enough, and found refuge in The 700 Club programming. She used to stay in her bedroom, speaking in tongues with that show blasting from her closed door. I hated that program. They all looked like sinister clowns. Most of all, I hated what it did to my mom. We never got to watch anything else, except The 700 Club. She retreated to her room and I found much more fun in the streets. Thank God my mother was frugal and never sent them money, but they took a piece of her spirit at an already critical time.
I'm happy to say that she...we survived and on some level, thrived. I'm a middle-aged woman and my mother is alive and well, living in her own home. The journey was real tho, Dr. P. The journey is always more real for US.
The 700 Club conjure memories of yt Christian Evangelical systems and their abuse of power, making vulnerable ppl poorer and sicker.
What a time to be alive unlike ole Jimmy. I grew up during the televangelist era and recall which family members were only sometimes viewers and which were hard core. Is it why I’m an atheist as an adult? In part probably. Is it why I find podcasts like behind the bastards & scam goddess my favorite type of shows? Absolutely. The preacher grift was genius and still manages to work today.
Tommy "Wildfire" Rich after TBN. From a white Catholic household. I am adopted and a born atheist as well. My dad only converted to Catholicism to marry my mom and he sent money to Jimmy. Just in case, ya know. My word how God has been used to make men rich and powerful. If there is a Heaven or Hell, I hope they are all burning. Ugly crying.
These clowns were dangerous. Joel Osteen, the mega church with millions, would not open the church to shelter victims of Katrina. They are why I don't think ANY church should benefit from 501c3 status
I’ll say an “amen” to that. None of them should have that status because all they do is uphold the status quo and nothing to undo the injustices that keep people poor and oppressed.
Adding to the list: Robert Morris, indicted in Oklahoma for child sex crimes. He is a former Dallas mega-church pastor, Gateway. He was also a trump "spiritual" advisor during the first trump administration. In the words of one of his victims: “After almost 43 years, the law has finally caught up with Robert Morris for the horrific crimes he committed against me as a child,” she said. “Now, it is time for the legal system to hold him accountable.” ..."Clemishire’s disclosure came as ... at least a dozen Dallas-area churches or pastors have been accused of committing or concealing sexual misconduct... ."
In Canada we’ve always had American TV channels, and I used to flip thru and see these hucksters. These people and productions were hilariously over the top. But they took money from the people least able to afford it. I thought of these so-called preachers as being like the late-night psychics that also preyed on vulnerable people. Hmmm…prayed and preyed…
For a great sendup of mega church nonsense, check out the show The Righteous Gemstones.
The Righteous Gemstones is hilarious and sooo cathartic.
Jim Bakker got out of prison and back to scamming people again. (Tammy Faye was, I think, a True Believer but I doubt Jim is.) Let’s not forget the original-Billy Graham. He’s gone but his son Franklin (who hated the whole religion thing up until he found out how well it paid) continues the scam. Joel Osteen, who personally makes me want to smack his smug face and throw up, still scamming people.
And a number more.
I like what George Carlin said. “God. All powerful, all knowing, but he needs money! Omnipotent, almighty- can’t handle money!”
I totally forgot about Billy Graham!!!
Yeah, the original mass scammer. His son raked in a lot of taxpayer money through his “shepherd’s purse” field hospitals in NYC while refusing to treat queer people. A real peach.
Not Billy Graham. His son.
That’s what I said.
My Aunt worshipped Billy Graham. Thought he was god's right hand man.
What do you think of Joel Olsteen? I think he and all of them should be ashamed of taking people's money.
I think the only true and sincere televised religious worship was the one with the nuns that aired on the local station here. Awful, but sincere. 🤣
Billy Graham is the first one who came to mind. He was the alpha and the omega for my grandmother. And my mother liked Osteen. Isn’t he the one who wouldn’t open up his church after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans? Real godly of him… 🤦🏾♀️ I can’t understand how so many people can’t see right through their BS.
Bakker is now a Dementia suffering MAGAt who preaches paranoid Right wing delusions and fantasies and sells a “End Times Kit” Ponzi scheme.
Good riddance. I’m white and I didn’t know that they were popular with Black Americans. My parents raised me high church Christian (Episcopal and Lutheran) in the 70s and 80s, I got kicked out of confirmation class for falling asleep and being too autistic and asking a lot of questions that made people uncomfortable. Ended up converting to Buddhism at 30…in my sect at least questioning was welcomed and I didn’t have to check my critical thinking at the door. In our family these folks were always mentioned with an eye roll 🙄 and seen as grifters and I spent my teen years just wondering WTF anyone saw in these folks while carefully keeping that opinion to myself in public. America has a cult problem. White people seem particularly vulnerable to it because we traded our indigenous traditions for white supremacy long ago but the soul still hungers for real spiritual community. The televangelists have been happy to provide a facsimile via Christian nationalism. God help them…because these preachers sure won’t.
He was a preacher, but also a showman, a marketer, a master manipulator of the American psyche. He understood that religion on TV wasn’t just about God, it was about drama, music, lighting, emotion, sales.
Lets not forget what he WAS when he fell…a Jesus-pimping John.
Yep, spot on!
The Two Biggest Scumbag Televangelists of that time Jim “ I date raped Jessica Hahn” Bakker and Peter “Theatrical Snake Oil” Popoff are STILL alive today which as far as I’m concerned is a travesty. Bakker I swear is suffering from some form of Dementia and is completely lost in his own delusions while Popoff is still running the same Shtick fake healer scam to this day and seems to have gotten away with Swindling people out of hundreds of millions of dollars.
The prosperity pimps are still doing well. Creflo Dollar anyone?
All of this so so spot on. I have to restack this! And in my house, he was bad news, but only because my mom liked the “preaching the word
verse by verse with a side of hate” people. So critical, but hyper critical.
Somehow I magically ended up agnostic/pagan and queer 😉.
Your honesty is soooo refreshing. I would add Rod Parsley to your list, Paula White, Benny Hinn… followed in the footsteps of Swaggert and impacted a “small segment” of black church and black faith… now Paula White don't need her black church no more now that she's ascended to MAGA’s Pastor and Priestess!!! I'm upgrading to paid!!!
Oh yeah, the creepy Paula White. I don't know Rod Parsley. Gotta read up on him. Thank you for reading and supporting, love.
I forgot Rod Parsley. I had a friend who knew him; he figured out how much he could make as a preacher, and “got religion.” Before that he was in sales. Once a grifter, always a grifter.
Yes. Rod Parsley is a Grifter too. In addition to Perry Stone.
I’m a Black Pentecostal who absolutely Despises and Hates Dubya with every fiber of my being, I quit listening to Paula White during the 2006 Midterms after she kept grifting the “All Muslims are Terrorists” Xenophobic Bullshit, when she started asking her viewers to pray Psalms 119 against President Obama in 2009, that’s when my Mom gave up on her and when a lot of Black Pentecostals snubbed and abandoned her.
White is a Grifter. She was close friends with Laura Bush and was key to turning out so many Evangelicals in 2004 to the polls.
Thank you.
Damn, you nailed it.
I hate The 700 Club and all their cast of bad makeup characters.
I remember my mother got real sick around the time The 700 Club was at its height with Jimmy and Tammy. The doctors could not find anything wrong with mom, and I deduced that she was an overworked single Black mother without much emotional and financial support, which took a horrible toll on mom. No dad to rub her head in the hospital. Nobody sophisticated enough to talk to medical providers on her behalf. I was 13 and thought my mother was going to die. She was so ill... just sick and tired until mom eventually felt well enough, and found refuge in The 700 Club programming. She used to stay in her bedroom, speaking in tongues with that show blasting from her closed door. I hated that program. They all looked like sinister clowns. Most of all, I hated what it did to my mom. We never got to watch anything else, except The 700 Club. She retreated to her room and I found much more fun in the streets. Thank God my mother was frugal and never sent them money, but they took a piece of her spirit at an already critical time.
I'm happy to say that she...we survived and on some level, thrived. I'm a middle-aged woman and my mother is alive and well, living in her own home. The journey was real tho, Dr. P. The journey is always more real for US.
The 700 Club conjure memories of yt Christian Evangelical systems and their abuse of power, making vulnerable ppl poorer and sicker.
Fck The 700 Club! Go straight to ----, Jimmy!💕
Show quoted text
Religion has always been used to tempt the gullible to "pay" for their salvation. Just say no.
What a time to be alive unlike ole Jimmy. I grew up during the televangelist era and recall which family members were only sometimes viewers and which were hard core. Is it why I’m an atheist as an adult? In part probably. Is it why I find podcasts like behind the bastards & scam goddess my favorite type of shows? Absolutely. The preacher grift was genius and still manages to work today.
Tommy "Wildfire" Rich after TBN. From a white Catholic household. I am adopted and a born atheist as well. My dad only converted to Catholicism to marry my mom and he sent money to Jimmy. Just in case, ya know. My word how God has been used to make men rich and powerful. If there is a Heaven or Hell, I hope they are all burning. Ugly crying.
The good die young. Never truer.
how many of these dudes had sex scandals. all?
Totally willing to bet all my money you are right about that
Jim Bakker forced himself on Jessica Hahn.
WHEW!!! All of this!!!
These clowns were dangerous. Joel Osteen, the mega church with millions, would not open the church to shelter victims of Katrina. They are why I don't think ANY church should benefit from 501c3 status
I’ll say an “amen” to that. None of them should have that status because all they do is uphold the status quo and nothing to undo the injustices that keep people poor and oppressed.
Adding to the list: Robert Morris, indicted in Oklahoma for child sex crimes. He is a former Dallas mega-church pastor, Gateway. He was also a trump "spiritual" advisor during the first trump administration. In the words of one of his victims: “After almost 43 years, the law has finally caught up with Robert Morris for the horrific crimes he committed against me as a child,” she said. “Now, it is time for the legal system to hold him accountable.” ..."Clemishire’s disclosure came as ... at least a dozen Dallas-area churches or pastors have been accused of committing or concealing sexual misconduct... ."
https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/12/robert-morris-texas-megachurch-indicted-sexual-abuse/