TBN WATCH READER FEEDBACK
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Hey Martin

From years of on and off viewing of Jan Crouch and her conversational style we invented this game, perfect for a group of rowdy skeptics, who are somehow locked into viewing Janny on "Praise The Lord".

Everyone takes a drink everytime Jan uses the word "little.." such as  "little grandmas".."you little partners"..."your little dimes and dollars"...of course, if Jan trots out her resurrected chicken story, all must drain their respective bottles before the story is over.

The first to pass out is declared "slain in the spirit" (or... spirits) and is the winner as they are obviously in the seventh heaven temporarily like Paul.

When Jan reads the bible, it sounds like a granny reading Mother Goose stories to infants...." and Jesus said...he did!...he said...listen to this.... coooome unto me..isn't that sweet?....."  gag

Hmmm dictionary time

crouch (verb)
[Middle English]
verb intransitive
First appeared 14th Century

1 a : to lower the body stance esp. by bending the legs <a sprinter ~ed ready to go>
b : to lie close to the ground with the legs bent <a pair of cats, ~ing on the brink of a fight --Aldous Huxley>

2 : to bend or bow servilely : CRINGE

verb transitive

: to bow esp. in humility or fear : BEND

-- crouch (noun)

Keep up the great work! Wish I was where your show aired...

Larry

Martin, I'm sorry the Church has let you down. When I say "a spiritual thing" I'm repeating a concept from the Bible that spiritual things are not understood by carnal men. When you turn to God, through Jesus Christ, He opens your eyes to understand the Bible, and, in this context, to understand the events laid out in this movie. Megiddo is just a "stupid" movie, okay? Definitely not worth coming to blows over. What was important to me and other Believers is the powerful way the Endtime message of the Bible was portrayed, particularly in light of our national disaster. You may not have find that to be very encouraging, but most Believer's do. Also, the movie served as a wake up call to some Christians who don't realize where we are in history and the importance for them to get their act together when it comes to their personal relationship with God and to reaching out to a world that the Bible says is headed for even worse disasters than the ones we're all presently living though. That's the power of this movie. That's why I believe the timing was perfect, even ordained by God, if I could be so bold.

I don't know whether you can understand all of this or not. I don't know you from Adam, but I hope one day you'll see the love of God in action that was displayed when God Himself came down to Earth and died in the form of Jesus Christ to take away your sins and set you free to live a life of peace here and for eternity with God. I know these claims must sound rediculous to you, but, then again, the events in Megiddo must have looked pretty rediculous and far fetched to the Apostle John when he penned the Book of Revelation nearly 2,000 years ago. The fulfillment of Bible prophecy tells me that all of God's Word should be looked at seriously, and taken to heart. The Bible says "the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it's the power of God to those who believe." It's a "spiritual thing." You CAN understand. God will open your eyes, if you'll let Him.

God loves you, Martin.

I hope I haven't offended you by anything I've said.

Jeff  

You haven't offended me, I just don't think you understand why it is I and other unbelievers don't take these beliefs seriously. I'm fully aware that Christians like yourself do take them seriously, so I don't wish to offend you either, but I hope I can make it clear without offending you why the things you say make no sense to me.

The church hasn't let me down; in fact I have fond memories of growing up in church as a youth. It's simply that Christian doctrine makes no sense. If God loves me, seems to me he could tell me himself...especially since, as I understand it, I will be sentenced to an eternity of torture if I don't love God back. Personally I find the idea of any being who would torture those who don't worship him forever to be perverse and entirely evil. And frankly, if this God exists, it makes me doubt the sincerety of his alleged "love." Seems to me that a God who really loved me wouldn't care if I believed in him or not, and certainly wouldn't want to see me tortured for any reason whatsoever. The docrine of Hell, quite frankly, disqualifies Christianity from even remotely being considered a moral or beneficent belief system.

And again, there is the Problem of Evil. It is simply impossible to reconcile the God of Christianity with the events of September 11th. If God is truly omniscient, then he knew that attack was going to take place, and yet he did nothing to prevent it. Why? Not because he couldn't. He's supposed to be omnipotent. Did he simply not want to for some reason? What possible reason could he give that would be acceptable? Unless you're willing to accept that God is in fact a deeply evil being who is in league with the terrorists, I can't conceive of a single explanation that saves God.

You mention that "spiritual things are not understood by carnal men." Setting aside what exactly might be meant by "carnal men," if we cannot understand them, why should we care about them? When believers retreat into the "unknowable" or "mysterious" ways of God, it's essentially an admission that they cannot define their God in any meaningful sense. It also completely makes no sense to say that "God Himself came down to Earth and died in the form of Jesus Christ to take away your sins and set you free to live a life of peace here and for eternity with God." First off, why was it necessary for a human sacrifice to be performed in order to appease God and take away our "sins"? It seems that what Christianity is claiming is that God said, "Okay, I'm mad at all these people down on Earth, so what I'll do is I'll send this one guy down, and he'll be brutally killed, and that'll make me not mad anymore and everything will be fine." (And God killing himself is even more bizarre.) This is complete nonsense in light of God's alleged omnipotence; if God simply wanted to rid the world of evil and sin he could have snapped his fingers and done so. But then, how is it in any way just to have someone else take on the punishment for my supposed "sins"? If a friend of mine committed a crime and I stood up in court and said, "Judge, I'll volunteer to serve all my friend's prison time," no one would consider that just.

It's also not particularly just in that human beings still have the obligation to join the Christian faith in order to receive the full benefit of Jesus's sacrifice. And the fact is that there have been billions of people in the last 2000 years living off in parts of the world where Christianity is unknown, who have never in their lifetimes had the opportunity to hear of Christianity. God, being omniscient, has known this, and yet according to Christian doctrine, all of these people have died and gone to hell anyway, which doesn't seem just to me. Anyway, if God knows the future with absolute certainty, then he knows there are millions of people who never hear his Word, and who are therefore simply born to die and go to hell. In light of this, Jesus's sacrifice and Christianity's whole plan of salvation is a big sham.

All of the above, is, of course, argued from the supposition that God exists and Jesus did what the Bible says he did. But he doesn't and he didn't, so humanity can breathe a sigh of relief. Still, I find it deeply troubling that such a poisonous belief system has spread to such a large portion of humanity. One thing I found particularly disturbing in your letter was that you thought Megiddo was a "wake-up call" to Christians to "the importance for them to get their act together when it comes to their personal relationship with God." That sounds like fear to me. What are you afraid your God will do to you if you don't get your act together? Why would a "personal relationship" with such a being even be desirable?

Anyway, these are just some of the reasons I think Christianity is a bad and dangerous belief system. None of it is a personal attack on you; I understand you've been led to think these beliefs are the way to go. I just hope I've made my views understandable. I care very much about people and I don't like to see them hurt or taken advantage of by bad beliefs. Take care and thanks for writing.

Just had to write and let you know that we get a kick out of your TBN watch webpage....well, when we aren't disgusted that is...

We are also TBN viewers for it's entertainment value.

Several things I wanted to share that you were probably aware of... Doesnt this whole Matt Crouch hype thing on TBN strike you as just bullshitting Paul Crouch out of more $$$ for their production company? Seems like whenever Paul & Matt are on the same show, there is some major butt-kissing going on and also some big-time lying about how well their various film projects are doing. I know that Paul is pretty much THE check-cutter at TBN, I think Matt knows that he has to keep things sounding as rosey as possible for more money from dad and also keeping the idiots who send money in thinking things are going well also. The whole Paul - Matt relationship reminds me of the Ronald Reagan presidency when he had so called "experts" around him who bullshiited him about how well things were going and all along having no idea what was actually going on.

Did you happen to catch the "Behind The Scenes" (Truly one of the BEST places to see these clowns at their boiled down desperate best...), where Matt was telling people to go to public websites where they could leave reviews (like imdb and such) and to clog it with positive reviews, even going as far as to tell folks that they need not have seen the movie at all but could fill those review sites up based just on seeing the previews? Matt has even gone so far as to almost dictate what to write which backfires because when you go to these sites, you see the same review over and over, same phrases, catchwords, etc.

Anyway, enough of me yammerin', keep up the great work. We will keep reading.

Larry

Yes, every time I watch Behind the Scenes on TBN, I always wonder what really goes on there...behind the scenes...

Okay, well, a few things of mild interest, first.

The "God" thing. Sept 11 was a man-made act, not a God-made act. According to several chapters in the Bible (and I don't quote the thing), God gave man the free will to choose, and that includes choosing (or not choosing) God, and making really bad choices like hijacking and crashing planes.

That said...

But what about the people inside the planes and the buildings? Where is their choice, their free will? Using the freewill argument as a response to the Problem of Evil doesn't address the problem. Okay, so let's say that God, who's supposedly omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent, sits back and allows evil acts to occur in spite of this because he doesn't wish to interfere with the freewill believers say he has given us. Well, whose freewill is more important here? You have two groups of people in this stuation, the terrorists and their victims. The terrorists are using their freewill to decide they want to crash planes into buildings. On the other side of the coin, there are 6000 innocent people about to lose their lives, who, if anyone cared to ask them, would probably say "I don't feel like dying today, thank you very much." So then, by refusing to interfere with the evil plans of 19 men to save the lives of 6000, you must reach the conclusion that God, by His inaction, was favoring the terrorists' freewill over those of the victims. So I'm sorry, Kathy, but not only does the freewill argument not get God off the hook, it actually makes Him look worse.

You could draw an analogy to a much simpler situation. If I were walking down the street and witnessed some pervert assaulting you, I would stop him. But what if there were no witnesses? Would God step in, or not? And why not? Because of freewill? Whose freewill is more important? Your assailant's, which tells him "I want to attack this woman," or yours, which tells you "I don't want to be attacked." Personally I think the idea of a God who sits back and watches dispassionately while you or any human being is victimized is sickening. Even if I could believe in the existence of such a being, why on earth would I, or anybody, worship Him? What would you think of a person who sat back and watched and did nothing while you were being attacked? But it's okay if it's God? How does that work?

Clearly, the Megiddo numbers are as you said, and I have received emails that it's number 1 (which I never did understand how they figured that).

Bad as it may be, this movie is not NEARLY as bad as Billy Graham Productions' "The Ride," which is actually physically painful to watch - thanks to phoned-in performances and truly bad storytelling with plot holes a 4-year-old could spot. (It's one of only a few bad performances in Michael Biehn's career. I'm a fan, but he *does* have 'em on rare occasions.)

Megiddo was better than I expected, but not as good as I'd hoped.

You'll enjoy this bit: I flew out on Monday the 17th to see the premiere where Michael Biehn was supposed to be, live. A rare opportunity, given that his most recent films (Art of War being the exception) went straight to either cable or video. Got a hotel 2 blocks away from it. Mind you, TBN was still standing behind Crouch's interviews and their press releases. So, from my hotel, at nearly 5 PM, I find out the premiere - which is 24 hours away - is now "postponed indefinitely." (How do you "postpone" a premiere when a film has gone ahead and opened?)

Not only was I not pleased to find out that they had suddenly done an about-face after all that hype, but their own 'volunteers' were the last to know!! They sent it to their Megiddo mailing list but didn't tell their volunteer lists. I got in this to help promo what I consider to be a Michael Biehn film, and I'm hoping he doesn't do another for them.

Worse, they invited someone who heads a Michael Biehn list and site (as I do) to the screening...and SHE'S an avowed atheist! Something just ain't fair there...

Actually, for TBN, I consider it remarkably fair! I'd love to see them seek the opinions of atheists more often. :-)

Anyway, I wrote a review of my own for fellow Biehn fans, but anyone's welcome to view it: http://members.aol.com/larabeeslady/megiddo.htm. There's some humor in it, so I hope you enjoy it!

I liked Michael Biehn in it, and a few of the other actors can actually act. But it's mostly comical in parts with a 'love story' plot that is not only unnecessary to the overall plot, it stretches your ability to believe in Love At First Sight (and I don't). :-)

Kathy Bright

I believe they used the tragedy to market the movie in a way that made me feel uncomfortable at the time. Matt Crouch had commented that they planned a Hollywood Premier (sort of a Gala type thing; not best for a tragedy; this was days after 9-11) which turned into a Friday Prayer service for example.

A clip (according to Matt) of the WTC collapsing was run which led into promoting Megiddo that was pulled, (I didn't see it). Also this movie seems to be doing the same pattern as their last movie Omega Code:

Church people buy up X # of tickets
Boosting the attendance for the 1st weekend
Giving the Crouches especially Matt
The chance to say Megiddo was:
#1 in America! Really?

TBN should go up to all the theaters and say "We're treating. We'll buy up X amount of tickets, etc to guarantee a full house". They can afford it; they're worth billions of $. That's right give 3,000 theaters enough money to get them to show the movie, whatever it takes. Go to every major newspaper in the land and take out front page ads (more $) & make sure they're on the Front Page in BIG LETTERS not buried in the back somewhere + go on Every major TV show (not just TBN) and get instant access in Jesus name ) If this movie's of the Lord. Not their present "Church Bus Bubble" marketing scheme, which according to TBN they wanted to avoid. Ironic that.

You see the point of this "Movie for Jesus" is to get the Lost to attend and get saved through this movie. Right. But I've been saying Huh? Why is TBN dunning the viewers? The Bible says Go and Preach the Gospel to Every Creature; that's TBN's mission. But alas the info I've been able to find indicates the opposite. Just 300 theaters, mostly in the Bible Belt (Texas and California has the most) showing Megiddo and mostly Church Folk attending. A clever business plan that? Or is it?

Now let me emphasise that Christians will say if 1 soul gets saved through the movie its worth it. Can a movie save a soul. You don't have to answer. Can the making of movies help folk to get closer to God and come to Jesus? A good question.

There are 2 extremes in America Christianity when it comes to Christian Movies.

On the one hand you had the Old Timey Pentecostals that said "Movies are of the devil!" Even Ben Hur. So don't go. We still have it today in the form of www.av1611.org Dial the Truth Ministries which says "C-Rock is of the devil". All of the answers come from within (New Age). Really! And its still on their webpage today. Those fanatics have lost it. But I digress.

On the other hand you have this other extreme that says "Lets put out Movies for Jesus!" that the heathen might watch and get saved. Which is Westernized Christianity. Neither extreme I'll say is healthy; there needs to be a sensible look into this issue. So without further ado here it is:

Er TBN can market this movie better if they want to; they instead do limited marketing and make the church folk do most of the work, telling pastors to buy up X number of tickets (with the local Church's pocket Money) therefore helping TBN make some money. Its a real neat concept this. The church folk can bring the unsaved, as many as possible, but alas the movie was not marketed well enough so as mentioned it'll do well for a week or 2 (due to Church folk attending mostly) then fade. That's what the experts say; its not meant to be a putdown.

Here is a comment from the Charisma Magazine forums regarding TBN's role in the film:

" It seems to me that TBN has done it's part in providing the tool to witnessing (The creation of the movie, cost of producing, air time on TBN to advertise,etc).Now is the time for the Christian in the church to do their part and get people to the movie. We have a responsiblity as well. (One plants another waters) We seem to have the idea that oneplants & waters and another critizes what was planted and watered...It's time to do our part. "

To which I write: Most of the time, according to Christian fanatics, the unsaved have no knowledge of Christ and so the things of God are nonsense. But every now and then they make a point that a discerning believer can look into. For example the famous Led Zeppelin song Stairway to Heaven seems to discourage drug use. So moving right along:

An atheist on this site in the Readers Mail said it best (meaning Praise a Thon) and I'll say it now about Megiddo. Cut out the middleman. TBN should go to ALL the theaters (yes 3000) and buy up All the tickets. Then give them to Anybody that wants to go.

Thus more people can be saved and TBN can Really be #1 in the Theaters; not just the dubious Per Screen Average. Of course the risk is TBN would have to eat the cost of All the tickets. And they're having to take a loss already! I'll bet they dig into their donor's base; that's right Grandma's donation will go to making up the cost of Megiddo.

As I mentioned they can be marketing (he he) through the secular media (TV, newspaper, radio. the Web) as well as TBN. A phone number can be displayed on screen for the people who's interested in the movie to call and request tickets to be given to them.

Yes I the consumer, Christian or Non Christian, should be able to call TBN's phone # and request X number of tickets Paid For Already by TBN to be sent to my house, etc AND I oughta be able to strut in the theater with my paid for ticket. TBN should finance each and every ticket and let the Lord work, not use the middleman and make regular folk have to pay to see the Lord's business, or a B-Grade film ); Come now. Obviously this is not the case, for indeed its a Man's Idea (Matt Crouch), albeit one that Maybe God can work with, but only in a limited fashion. We hope so. We pray )

More commentary from the Charisma Mag forums: "Now I do not represent the TBN organization. I see some ministers that they promote that I think should not be promoted, but I have to give them credit when they go to this length to give the church a tool work with. Let's pull together here."

To which I write: TBN should finance each and every ticket and give people the option of getting a free ticket, just like the Gideons distribute the free Bibles.

Then the folk can decide what to do with Megiddo then.

Not making me drive an hour or more to the nearest theater just to buy up tickets. As I said earlier, Jesus would not charge $ to see the movie; TBN is. I understand the theater gets $ for the movies so in this case my ? holds.

Why doesn't TBN just buy up ALL the tickets to give away to the people that are interested; saved or Unsaved?

Why make people go and buy tickets; why not just give them away through their (714) 731=1000 number or whatever? If its All of the Lord's work that is and not of Men's marketing, etc. Real simple question.

Churches buying up blocks of tickets and giving them away to parishoners is interesting. Where does the church get its money? From offerings I take it.

My offerings. And its going to a movie, a potentially B Grade Movie at that? Shoot. I'm not interested thanks. I did watch Omega Code though and it was a cure for insomnia; boring. And this movie's gonna do worse.

Amen.

Jeff Barnes

Well, the simple reason TBN doesn't just go out and buy up every Megiddo ticket in the world and give them away is that their filmmaking business, Gener8Xion Entertainment, is just that: a business. All this heavenly altruism about saving souls is the spin they put on it; in point of fact, they want to make loads of money making movies, just like a big studio. And you don't make money by first making the film and then buying all the tickets for it. You're not bringing in any revenues. You're just losing money on yourself! That's no kind of business plan. No business, religious or otherwise, is under any kind of obligation--legal, moral, or otherwise--to give away a product they've spent millions of dollars creating. That's the one thing I'll say in defense of TBN in response to your letter. You don't expect supermarkets to give food away free simply because without food most people will die. So there's no reason at all to expect any company, even TBN, who is in the business of a non-essential product like film, to give their stuff away either. I don't expect Steven Speilberg to buy up all the tickets for his new movie and stand on a street corner giving them away; there's no reason for TBN to have to do that either.

And there's a second reason TBN doesn't do what you think they ought, and that is that they simply wouldn't be taken seriously at all by Hollywood, which, believe you me, is a big goal of theirs, having talked to one of their reps on the phone myself. They aren't taken that seriously as it is. Going out and blatantly buying out 3000 screens for your movie would be seen as so ridiculously crass they'd be laughed out of town.

The folk, as you put it, can already decide what to do with Megiddo. Like any other movie playing in America today, they can choose to go see it or not. Mostly, they're not.

Finally, if TBN and Christians in general want to reach the "unsaved" (ie: atheists like me), then they need to come up with solid, tangible evidence for their claims. A movie won't do that, no matter how good or cheesy it may be. So if TBN really made Megiddo as a conversion tool and not just Christian entertainment, they just wasted $20 mil in spectacular fashion.

I saw you on the show this afternoon and support your quest for answers regarding the release of Megiddo or, at least, Matt Crouch's explanation......  (BTW why does everyone on TBN seem to pronounce it "Migeddo"??). I believe the reason for not delaying the release of the movie is simply a matter of money. They're a small company and I would think that any delay would probably have been very bad for the box office takings. Anyway, by tomorrow no doubt they will be boasting again of their being number one "per screen" again - just seen numbers on Yahoo Movies. However, they failed to crack the top ten and 1.5 million is looking ominously low (for them) considering the 20 million plus they spent on the movie.

I was amazed when I followed your link to the law suit going on in LA over the first movie. I had no idea that had been going on. It was stunning to see the stunts TBN tried to pull to get the case thrown out - not very Christian, though not very surprising. Did you see the bit about Jan Crouch's dalliances with a younger married man in the swimming pool? Curiously I once came across a reference on another anti-TBN site about Jan Crouch being seen around LA with a "boy-toy". I dismissed that just rumour-mongering though now I am not so sure!

I think the biggest scandal about the movies is the way they are funded. Not only have they used donations from millions of ordinary, gullible people to finance these movies, the very same people are they bludgeoned day and night by TBN into buying tickets to go and see it. Just think how much money, in air time, TBN must have spent promoting them.

I used to be a TBN watcher, until Time Warner took it to digital (probably a good think - for me!!). I remember the first time I came to the States, in 1987, I was amazed to see pastors on TBN praying for people's pocket books. TBN was just so alien to anything I had experienced back in England. When I was in France a few weeks back I saw TBN Europe was on satellite there - a bit depressing, but I would be very very surprised if they have the same success in any European nation as they do here.

Matt Crouch is a real loose cannon - even compared to his wacky parents. I would not be surprised to see him coming completely off the rails at some point the future. Unfortunately it is unlikely the TBN viewers would notice!

After living in the USA for the past few years, I think I am beginning to see why the US is such a fertile breeding ground for the likes of Pat Robertson, TBN, and Falwell, etc. I'm not sure I can put it my thoughts into words properly without a lot of consideration but the way the country was founded (no thanks to us Brits) and the very nature of the Constitution -  freedom of religion, government tyranny, etc. - seem to have encouraged much more polarity in people's views and beliefs today.

Religion is thriving in the US, I believe, in part, because of this continuing vigorous debate over the meaning of the constitution - the Left wanting to get religion out of public life, the Right defending their position of keeping it in there. The shifting landscape as one side wins a victory over the other just appears to intensify the struggle and polarise people's views even more.

Religion is dying in England simply because of apathy. As you saw in the papers a few weeks back, the religious leaders are desparately seeking ways to get the people to notice, but although, as in the US I expect the majority of Brits believe in some kind of nebulous concept of God, people just don't see the relevance to everyday life. To quote the Good Book (!) the UK is stony ground to the likes of TBN, Robertson, and Falwell - but good for a laugh, perhaps. Even amongst the small minority who are observant, most are "liberal" and happily accept evolution and other scientific models of reality.

Well, I rambled a lot - time to stop! Keep up the good work!

Regards,

Mike Walker

I, too, find myself watching way more TBN than I mean to and I am never dissapointed by the level of over the top, cheesy, Christian broadcasting I find there.  It took me weeks just to get over Jan's wigs.  Though for awhile I was debating whether or not it could be actual, natural hair with just a tremedous amount of styling product involved.  I am not sure yet.

I have been watching (and laughing at) Benny Hinn for what seems like years.  The first time I saw him heal someone by blowing on them, I was like "are you serious?"  When I lived in Pittsburgh, we were privileged enough to have our very own local Christian channel, that was broadcast out of some scary small Western PA town.  Anyway, they had a show called "His Place", which was about a Christian owned diner.  The camera would drift in and out of the "conversations" the "patrons" were having, always about God.  My favorite was the episode where the clean-up guy of the diner was explaining to his sassy, modern wife how Jesus had indeed intended women to be subserviant to men, but only because he loved them so much.  

The most disturbing event I have ever witnessed on TBN was the emergence of MC "2 Legit to Quit" Hammer onto the Christian preaching scene.  I love it when washed up 80's icons find God.

Anyway, keep up the good work on your TBN watch column.  It is endlessly entertaining and well written.  And now I don't feel so alone in my guilty pleasure of watching TBN and witnessing all the lunacy that goes on there.

Sincerely,

Emily Habermehl

Great article!  I've also been a "TBN watcher" off and on.  BTW, I noticed that when Time Warner realigned their channels in Austin earlier this month that we no longer get TBN (at least on basic analog service - I don't know if digital subscribers get it).  I now can only get my weekly dose of ridiculous religious ramblings from the access channels (unless I go to church with my wife).  At least they don't beg for money.

One of my favorites from Schambach was when he said that, if you need $4000 (for example, for life-saving medical treatment) you should "tithe in advance" by sending TBN $400.  God would then miraculously provide you with the $4000 (followed by anecdotal stories of people finding anonymously donated bags of money on their doorstep).  My thought on this is that, if god has access to all that money, why doesn't he cut out the middleman and send it directly to TBN?  I thought about calling them and asking them to send me the $4000 god had for me and then I'd send them back the 10% (hell, I'd send them back 50%).

Paul Crouch read a letter once that was from a woman whose family was falling apart (seriously ill children, husband lost job, house reposessed, etc  - I can't remember the exact details but it was something along this line) but she sent TBN a large donation anyway (who needs groceries?), and things were now looking up.  He and the several guests then went into a conniption fit of praising god for her faith (well, for her money, actually) while Jan boo-hooed in the background.  Would not an ethical person return the money? (Personally, I think this letter, and many of the anecdotal stories they relate, are fiction).

My brother is a minister, and spent 8 years as a missionary in Germany, of all places.  He doesn't like TBN at all and says, at least in educated places like Germany and other European countries, TBN and their brand of evangelism probably serves to keep people away from xianity, especially America's unique brand of fundamental xianity.  I guess that money's not all going to waste after all.

Steve Rosser

TimeWarner Cable's new digital channel lineup (in Austin, TX) now not only includes TBN 24 hours a day, but four additional 24/7 Christian channels, including one Catholic channel! Oh, the humanity! It remains to be seen whather or not I will comment on anything I find on any of these other channels. I may have to. Speaking of TBN in Germany, check the next letter....

Loren

Your link is up. I just read your Jack Van Impe article, and I'll have to say you pretty much nailed him. When I was attending Bob Jones University back in the 70's JVI was a frequent speaker. (This was before JVI embraced Catholics.) He was using Revelation then to "prove" that the Soviet Union would raise its flag over the White House on or before the '76 bicentennial, after which Armageddon would soon follow. The thing that amazes me the most about him, besides his encyclopedic knowledge of the Bible, is that he can churn out thousands of these prophecies and never flinch or bat an eye when none of them pan out. He is either one of the most brazen and polished religious con men I've ever seen or the most self-deluded. Good work!

Bill McArthur

PS: BoJo A-Go-Go: A look inside the wacky world of Bob Jones University. http://go.to/nobojo

"Sara Hightower"

The Old Testament God? Yowza. So then, the whole thing with Jesus and the "new covenant" was just a big joke. Boy, won't all those Christians be steamed.

Ken Rogers

Sincerely,
Brett Mudd

I agree with a lot of the points you made, although in the case of mainstream pop, I think that the God talk that comes from those artists is more a case of pandering than proselytizing. Pop musicians are a lot like politicians; if they think overt displays of religiosity will win them public approval, that's how they'll act. Beyonce's quote is typical of Christian arrogance; even if there were a divine creator of the universe, why would he give a shit whather or not a pop group living on a tiny dust speck on the outer rim of the galaxy became successful? I'm sure God has nothing at all better to do than manage some spoiled 19-year-old's singing career. As for Wyclef Jean's challenge, I'd be delighted to take him up on it! I wonder how I could get him my e-mail address...?

Michael Derousselle
The Woodlands, TX

Bad breath? So that's it. I always wondered what Benny meant when he talked about being "slain in the spirit!"

As a recovering Christian, I remember when I used to watch the religious shows, and they'd talk about morality, and pro's and con's of situations and all that. Now, it's just a stream of people bringing up fake proof of the existance of god, with all the people just nodding their head in agreement, a blank, empty look in their eyes. The music is the same way, it's all "I believe in god" or "There is a god" or a variation of that. Do these propagandists know something that we don't? Anyway, thanks for the wonderful articles!

Glenn MacEachern

Well, this is what religion is all about in the first place, is it not? Once people invest the sum total of their personal happiness into a belief system that tells them there's a God and they're His little pal, that belief system must be defended nearly every minute of the day. This is why fundies get so hysterical over evolution. Creationism isn't about scientific knowledge, as much as they like to dress it up that way; it's about defending a belief that has given them the only happiness they know.

Really enjoyed your columns--funny and informative! I have just one quick suggestion. Would you consider posting your new columns in the middle of the month? I read several Internet atheist/freethought/skeptic, etc. columns, and all post new ones on the first of the month. Then it's a long dry spell until the next month. Please help those of us who need a good laugh in the middle of all the foolishness that our colleagues seem to take seriously (angels, soup for the soul, their god's purpose, and on and on ad nauseam). Of course, you could always write two columns a month--that would be even better!

Thanks for the laughs, and keep up the good work.
Sincerely,
Rita--a freethinker in the outback of Montana

I'll take this under advisement. What do my other readers think? First of the month, or mid-month?

Dude your such a loser.
Dont you have anything else better to do?
I dont believe in Benny Hinn either, but he's totally robbing you of your time man.
Get a life.

Brett Lutchmansingh
P.S. - whos 'The Door'?

A satirical magazine about religion written by losers who have no life, but who can, at the very least, spell and punctuate. If anyone has any ideas on how I can do things "beeter," I'm all ears! :-)

Regards,
Tears in Rain

Here in Hawaii, I kill time between the good shows on Cartoon Network by watching the real-life cartoons on TBN. It's a guilty pleasure. But I never thought anyone else who wasn't brain-dead would also watch, let alone do a critique! I loved your comments about the "blockbuster" Christian movies, and I can't wait to read your next piece...be assured this won't be my last visit to your page. Good luck!

xsquid

Instead of selling motor oil franchises or cheap costume jewelry, he sells satellite TV franchises. He goes all over the world, particularly into regions where the Xian superstitions are most fervently held and he convinces local witch doctors to raise boatloads of money to buy a franchise on TBN, convincing them the programs they will be receiving will "save" souls.

I have no doubt the locals (possibly even Crouch himself, although I have mucho skepticism there) are sincere in their beliefs. However, the end result is that hundreds of millions of dollars are floating upward through this pyramid to the man at the top. The poor souls at the bottom who own the local franchises make no money. In return for the hard earned dollars they channel upwards, they get the vapid programming that you and I find entertaining, but worthless, except possibly as a gauge of what nonsense these Xians will swallow.

But Crouch himself has managed to amass a fortune so large that, no one, not even the IRS, which keeps an open file on him, has been able to estimate (the old church/state separation card). He has a cadre of lawyers (good Xians all) who make sure that his enterprise is legally sound even though it is morally suspect.

If you plan to write more columns on TBN, I would really be interested in your thoughts about the fascinating (at least to me) financial machinations Crouch uses to fill his pockets while keeping the IRS, the FCC and other law enforcement agencies placated.

Keep up the good work. I can't wait for the TV show [Atheist Experience] to be live again.

Joe Shanahan
Life-long Skeptic

Look for an article investigating TBN's financial practices later this year. Although I don't know if TBN's selling of TV stations is any more of a pyramid scheme than, say, a Wendy's franchise, what could be very interesting to look into are TBN's dealings with the FCC and other governmental bodies. I'd also like to know more about what goes on in TBN's dealings in other countries, particularly their current efforts to get going in mainland China. (Can you imagine what the Chinese would make of Carman and Benny Hinn!?) We'll see what we can find, shall we?

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