Yes, I can. With the help of others who have written about the Crouches online, I can put together a slam dunk case against them. Someone has to - these people have been manipulating desperate people into giving money they can't afford to them for years. It's about time that
somebody says "enough".
In my opinion, Paul and Jan Crouch's faith is one of convenience. As long as they can make a quick buck off of invoking God's name and pretending to believe in Him, they'll continue to play the God card. It's likely that if they hadn't had so much success using religion to earn money for themselves for so many years, they would have moved on to something else.
They stand in front of the cameras on their television network, preaching their fallacious "prosperity gospel". Cherry-picking verses from the Bible and badly twisting them to fit their own needs. Pretending to speak in tongues and "heal" people so that the phones will start ringing and the donations pour in. As someone who watches old shows from Robert Tilton's - a proven huckster - ministry (because of the Farting Preacher series), I can personally attest that Paul and Jan Crouch's tactics are
identical to the Bakkers and Don Stewart and all the other sheister preachers from thge 1980s.
If you're not convinced about the Crouch's horrible misrepresentations of Bible verses, read this excerpt from a paper written by Jackie Alnor of Moriel Ministries (this is
not my work):
"But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred." -- Mark 4:8
This is from the Lord's parable of the seeds that were sown in various kinds of soil, some bearing fruit and others dying. The parable from which Avanzini lifts his "give to get rich" formula condemns him when it's read in its context. Jesus interprets the meaning of the sower and the seed and the ground. In verse 14, He said, "The sower sows the word." So, the seed Jesus was referring to was NOT money -- it is the Word of God.
The seed of the word when it is sown on thorny ground endures only a short time until "the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful" Mark 4:19.
This is Avanzini's fate, unless he repents, as he is deceived by the desire for riches and the same fate will be shared by the spiritually blinded people who follow him into the pit.
In verse 20, we're told about the true nature of the 30-60-100 fold return. It is not a financial harvest, but a spiritual one. "But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred."
How can seed be interpreted to mean money? What a perversion of scripture! Jesus made it quite clear that money was something that the world values, but has no value to God.
"So they brought it. And He said to them, 'Whose image and inscription is this?' They said to Him, 'Caesar's.' And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.' And they marveled at Him."
52
Jesus is certainly not demanding a taxation upon His people of the very thing that Caesar wants. We as believers give our lives to Him -- and not just 10% of it -- He gets it all and then He meets our needs according to His will for each of us as we walk by His Spirit. Whatever He puts into our hands is His -- all of it. And the heart of a true follower of Christ is generous and giving. They give not expecting anything in return and God keeps them and provides for their needs. They are not worldly or materialistic, but go as far as their provisions allow. When God calls them to do something, He equips and provides and is in control of their pocketbooks. In fact, God will sometimes utilize their poverty or their abundance as a tool for directing them and telling them to stop or to go ahead according to His wishes.
TBN's doctrine of "give to get" is a perversion of the Bible verse: "But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver."
53
The apostle Paul was encouraging the Corinthians and all believers to be generous. If people are stingy, they're not going to be rewarded by God. This was not given as a club to compel people to empty their pockets. He made that clear when he said "God loves a cheerful giver."
The Crouches and the other speakers at the Praise-a-Thons corrupt the word of God to raise money. They justify it by saying that, 'it works.' The fact that it works makes them believe that it's true. But it works for them, but not for the donors. They may find some exceptions who testify of "financial miracles," but most are still waiting for the manifestation of TBN's promises.
Jesus told us to do good and share with those in need who are worse off than ourselves. That is part of our Christian service. He explained it like this:
"
But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil."
54
God does reward His children for their generosity, but as He said, "hoping for nothing in return." As soon as a selfish motive is introduced into a Christian's giving, that actually prevents the blessing from occurring. TBN is robbing people of their reward when they encourage greed. And exhorting people to eagerly pursue riches sets them up for a fall. The Apostle Paul put it this way:
"But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition."
I like how the famous evangelist Charles Finney spelled out the difference in the attitude of a true believer and a false one in his writing, "True & False Conversion." Showing some similarities between true saints and false ones, he wrote, "They may both love the Bible -- the true saint because it is God's truth. He delights in it, and feasts his soul on it. The deceived person loves the Bible because he thinks it is in his own favor, and sees it as the plan for fulfilling his own hopes."
56
This is the wrong attitude promoted by TBN. Use the Bible to accomplish your own purposes and get healthy, wealthy, and wise in your own eyes thereby. The Bible becomes a tool for attaining your own selfish desires.
The poor donors who are looking for a financial blessing after paying TBN instead of their creditors have believed TBN's preachers that they will become rich because its their right as a child of God. They want to cash in on the "great end-time wealth transfer" that Avanzini promised them.
"It would be nothing for God to give a hundred thousand dollars to a person," Avanzini told his desperate TV audience. "Why, a bank could do that; a lottery could do that and greater than a lottery has come. His name is Jesus and he can give us anything that the world could do, he would do."
57 In other messages he has compared God to other industrial giants claiming, "a greater than General Motors is come;
58 a greater than Ford Motor is come;
59 a greater than Citibank has come."
60
It is a known fact that the biggest buyers of lottery tickets are the ones who can least afford it, but who are hoping for that one lucky windfall. This is the same measure of desperation that drives many of TBN's donors to listen to the talk of giving to get. This is also why it carries over well into the third world nations who look at Americans and desire what we have. They're made to believe that if they do what we do, they'll get what we got. Contrary to some critics of the prosperity gospel, who say it wouldn't fly in the third world, it does fly -- right in the face of God Almighty!
"It is a common characteristic of false teachers to have false promises," noted evangelist Greg Laurie, whose "Harvest Crusades" air regularly on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. "They promise that God will prosper you. 'Oh,' they say, 'if you will send in your gift right now we will pray the hundred-fold blessing upon you.' You've seen these guys -- 'God's revealed to me he's going to give a hundred fold blessing, so if you sow $10 he'll give you the hundred-fold blessing and multiply it. If you sow a hundred you'll get even more.' Interesting, though, 'if God's going to give you this blessing, first you have to give to me,' the false teachers say. It's a false message because you should never give to get because it's a wrong motive, going back to Cain."
61
If you've read other posts of mine on these forums, you know that I'm a strong supporter of interpreting the Bible for yourself -
within reason. The Crouches abuse this privilege by
badly perverting the Bible's message for their own benefit.
Paul Crouch has even admitted to his own greed. Consider this authentic quote from a 1991 Praise-A-Thon: "Oh here come the critics! 'Here comes the pitch.
Crouch is after your money.' Yes, I am! Hear it, devil! Hear it, press! Hear it, everybody! We're after money -- for one reason -- that this voice can be amplified a million more times. That this gospel will be preached in the world."
Yeah, "so the gospel will be preached to the world". The gospel of greed.
It is my opinion that TBN's version of Christianity is a perversion - a sick mirror image - of what Christianity is really about. And I'm not even the kind of person who says that often (I realize that I sound like some kind of fundamentalist). Their manipulation, their outright greed, their twisting of scripture makes me
sick. And that's the truth. The best thing that could happen for Christianity these days would be TBN going off the air. Permanently.
If you want to read the article:
http://www.moriel.org/discernment/tbn_and_root_af_all_evil.htm.
For even more information:
http://www.trinityfi.org/
http://www.ministrywatch.com/mw2.1/F_SumRpt.asp?EIN=952844062
Ringo
. Mom always said if I can't say some thing good, then I need to keep quite, so that is all I can say.
