The book makes the claim that Peter was smuggling thousands of Bibles into China, and that in Eastern Europe, people would walk 150 miles to hear him preach. [24], In May 1986, Randi presented one of Jason's videos on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. He was also the guy who got really upset about the purple Teletubby back in the '90s. 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? And he was as mesmerizing as ever. Peter George Popoff (born July 2, 1946) is a German-born American televangelist and debunked clairvoyant and faith healer. From award-winning writing and photography to binge-ready videos to electric live events, GQ meets millions of modern men where they live, creating the moments that create conversations. I put it in his bed, I put it on his pillow, and my son joined the church and he got saved and he's still in churchand then I got $3,800 and new furniture., Such blessings! 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.. He spent two or three minutes with each hopeful worshipper, leaning in to whisper, and thenwhat they'd come for, what they neededtouching them. Peter George Popoff (born July 2, 1946) is a German-born American televangelist and debunked clairvoyant and faith healer. Was it possible, I wondered, that Popoff believes in his own powers, just a little? [38] "Debt cancellation is part of God's plan", according to Popoff, who taught that God would respond to prayer and seed-faith by providing financial blessing. Televangelism. This Halloween, there are spookier things than ghosts or the number of womens costumes attempting to make cats and other household pets sexy. It appeared to me that Popoff was exploiting more than just American forgetfulness. The envelopes also included the miracle water or one of various worthless, made-in-China gewgaws: revelation stones; red strings that resemble the Kabbalah bracelets Madonna used to wear; and baruch wallets, flimsy silver lam pouches with a slit at the top, in which I was encouraged to insert money to mail back to Popoff. But in 2006, it reorganized and aligned itself with a small ministry called Word for the World, which operated out of a tiny storefront church in Farmers Branch, Texas. At a recent London gathering, GTS filmed Popoff "healing" a woman supposedly "wracked with pain", though Marshall and a colleague had previously seen herin no obvious distresshanding out pens and questionnaires to audience members. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories. Which complicates any theory that he is trying to get something for nothing. He's the guy that eschewed material wealth and said it waseasier to thread a needle with a whole camel than it was for a rich dude to get into heaven.) On the screen, below Popoff, flashed the message Call now for your free miracle spring water., As if to answer the very question that occurred to mewhat does one do with miracle spring water?Popoff explained that good times were ahead, very good times. Wrapped in Styrofoam for buoyancy and waterproofing, the Bibles eventually washed up on Communist shores.. In 2009, Popoff began running advertisements in UK periodicals offering a free cross containing "blessed water" and "holy sand". [14], Researcher and bioethics expert Fred M. Frohock cited Popoff as "one of many egregious instances of fake healing. Oh, also, he stole his wife's body from the compound after it was shut down. Small screen success led to high-minded ambitions, and the Bakkers soon began construction on Heritage USA, a Christian theme park with water slides, a 500-room hotel, and the staple of all amusement parks, tax exemption. One time they came with 130 gallon-size jugs.. donations. The accusations are numerous and diverse. Peter Popoff was back. The workload depended on what Popoff was saying on his paid television spots. Popoff is of the same generation as Bruce Springsteen, and he clearly shares the Boss's compulsion to never let an audience down. Popoff had been the best at what he didthe boldest and baddest, the most don't-give-a-damn cheesy. 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. His whole life was all about spreading the news. Then there was the time that he said the September 11th attacks happened because God was angry at America's acceptance of, among others, "the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle." [11] The powers he claimed included the abilities to heal the sick and foretell the future. I took a bathroom break in Popoff's private lavatory, right off his office. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, more than 40 years later, their media empire has an estimated value of $750 million. [47] In 2003, his ministry received over $9.6 million, and in 2005, over $23 million. Golding Jun 25, 2019 Discussion EtcetEra Forum Golding Member Oct 25, 2017 1,991 Jun 25, 2019 #1 What is going on here? Watch Now: Patrick Stewart Reads 1-Star Reviews of Famous Monuments, Ab-Soul Hit His Lowest Point. If news vans come by, the receptionist or security guy, whoever sees it first, she notified all the top people, letting them know the building is on lockdown.. She never took very many steps, but she vibrated with energy. I didn't know how it was all funded through a tax-exempt ministry that reaches its flock via live events and a blizzard of mailings, expertly crafted to separate poor people from their money. [25] Popoff initially denied Randi's accusations and accused NBC of "[hiring] an actress to impersonate Mrs. Popoff on a doctored videotape". He thought for a moment, then replied that, yes, Popoff was the real deal. To avoid Swaggart's potential power grab, he handed Jerry Falwell Sr. the keys to the kingdom. He went bankrupt, he lost everything he had, he had to start over. Truly, we are all human, and even the best among us must strive to be better. A month later, they've outgrown the darned things, and you have to ask your parishioners for $54 million to buy new ones. I wasn't aware yet of the ski vacations or his affinity for tennis or how much he adored his Bentley. She had come to talk to Peter. Popoff didn't come out to meet her; nor did any of his employees. It went back to the pits of hell!. Both men have produced nothing, except, for their followers, fervent certainty that they can produce anything. He's trying to get something, all rightmillions of something, in factbut not for nothing. Donald Trump's presidency will be, with any luck, the most polarizing point in American history that we'll live to experience. Negative, captain. In this crowd, I was very white, very young, and very male. You just got a dog? When times were good, they would ramp up. "Flim flam is his profession," Randi explained to reporter Matt Meaghan. [1][13][21][22][23], Randi also planted accomplices in Popoff's audiences, including a man dressed as a woman whom Popoff "cured" of uterine cancer at a meeting in Detroit in 1984. So I asked friends in ten locales spread across the country to give $10 to Popoff, then sit back and wait for tickets. [37], Popoff was designated by the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) as one of its recipients of the 2011 Pigasus Award for fraudulent practices, along with Mehmet Oz (from The Dr. Oz Show) and CVS Pharmacy. The decisions that have been made and the tweets that have been tweeted have led to deeply divided public opinion and celebrity impersonations being hammered so far into the ground that they could be used to secure a subterranean mole people transcontinental railroad. When they see any media come by, it's a total lockdown on the facility, I had been told by Crystal Sanchez, age 33, who used to work at Popoff's headquarters. As reported by UPI, when Jim Bakker bounced out of PTL in 1987, he became concerned that his ministry was about to be the subject of a hostile takeover by Jimmy Swaggart, who initiated the investigation into the Bakker clan. Skelton didn't return my calls, so one Sunday, I staked out his house in Mesquite, a hard-luck Dallas exurb. His shining quote: "Consent is puberty." He switched lady friends with Gary Busey. As I sat with the gregarious, affable Popoff, I understood: He believes he is helping people. He went bankrupt the next year, but made a comeback in the late 1990s. "His scams are endless. Unfortunately for Swaggart, hell hath no fury like a minor television celebrity scorned, and Gorman had Swaggart followed and photographed during a rendezvous with a local prostitute. Everybody's known that one dude that can't stop himself from one-upping. The earpiece, I realized, was always an unnecessary gimmick. [2][43], Popoff's operation had functioned as a for-profit company until 2006, when it merged with a small church in Farmers Branch, Texas called Word for the World, which operated out of a storefront. I knew he'd been born in 1946 in Germany, where his father, an ethnic Bulgarian, was an evangelical pastor. These programs air on Mainstream cable stations airtime sold (usually) by a third party media broker, then inserted by your local cable or satellite company. Right alongside our Puritan work ethic and entrepreneurial drive runs our instinctive love for the lottery. [19] In 1986, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry charged that Popoff was using electronic transmissions to receive his information; Popoff denied it, insisting that the messages were divinely revealed. I had found Sanchez after reading The Real Truth Behind People United for Christ, the e-book detailing her time there that she self-published in 2013. Join Facebook to connect with Peter Popoff and others you may know. For an hour and a half, he answered my questionsabout miracle spring water, James Randi, bankruptcy, his tennis game, the Holy Spirit. [27] Popoff's attorney, William Simon, "attributed the collapse of his ministry to financial mismanagement more than to disclosures about Popoff. Peter George Popoff (born July 2, 1946) is a German-born American televangelist and debunked clairvoyant and faith healer. Fans of Robert Tilton know him as the host of Success-N-Life. As it happens, I'd broken my left pinkie a month earlier, so my hand was in a splint. You know, its OK to make money. I sensed the same ambivalence when I met Larry Skelton. Animals and humans drinking from the spring were purportedly spared radiation sickness. Televangelism feels a lot like Game of Thrones once you read enough about it. And he has risen again to make millions leading the People United for Popoff was born in Occupied Berlin[4][a] on July 2, 1946,[5] the son of George and Gerda Popoff. This was vintage stuffa sort of resurrection, if you will. Popoff seemed to be truly enjoying my company, but his children were uncomfortable. He lost. 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. All rights reserved. If you accept, as Pentecostal Christians do, that God performs miracles, on the body, soul, and bank account, then his ministry offers a series of fair exchanges between him and his audience. 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.". Next to the sink: But I am trusting you, O Lord, saying, You are my God! My future is in your hands.Psalm 31:1415. Below that, on a sticky note: Whatever you touch will prosper and succeed. In the below section you will more & more information. Popoff received the transmissions via a receiver and earpiece he was wearing and repeated the information to astonished audience members. Televangelists Who Were Anything But Holy. And ever since then, I know, I personally know, that he is by the book and careful. Regular meth-fueled hookups with a male prostitute named Mike Jones. He may have once been branded a charlatan, but Popoff could probably see that we never stopped making space in our hearts for a guy like hima guy who knows what we want to believe. Yeah, they deliver it right here, he said. I asked about Popoff. 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. Duplantis disagrees. God hated Communists, he said, presumably explaining why Jesus accepted Venmo for all of those loaves and fishes. I was surprised when the address for the church I had found online took me to a storefront in an industrial park. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, thenView saved stories. It had been years, and he had changed some: a few more wrinkles, a little hitch in his gait, the hair a bit more aggressively black. Popoff is better than he knows. And according to a document related to his purchase of a Bentley in January 2009, Peter listed his monthly income at $100,000. For the Lord worketh in mysterious ways. Soon after the "healing", they watched her quietly leave the room. I was flitting between channels when I happened upon BET. When I asked how I could have hair like his when I got older, he quoted Exodus: I am the Lord thy God that heals thee! That's the promise that God gave to Israel. Location Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States Work Helicopter Pilot @ Us Army Senior Recruiter @ Us Army Finance Manager @ Us Army Education Liberty University They prey on the weak, the elderly, those in pain or close to being homeless. He touches them and they feel better. 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. You could see, there was no fakery to it. [13] His miraculous "curing" of chronic and incurable medical conditions became a central attraction of his sermons. He was introduced to Popoff when Popoff was only 15; Skelton was the organist in Popoff's father's road show, then in Popoff's, off and on, from 1965 to 1990. He has also a nick name and it is Peter Popoff. Among his other supposed accomplishments: his doctorate in philosophy, his two bachelor's degrees, and the somewhere-between-two-and-five wounds he accumulated in Vietnam. Hargis even went so far as to write a speech for Joseph McCarthy, the famous Communist witch hunter. But one by one, they fell to disgrace: Jim Bakker paid off a woman who'd accused him of rape; Jimmy Swaggart was caught with a prostitute at a roadside motel. He seemed done for. Peter Popoff Email Helicopter Pilot @ US Army View Peter's Email (It's Free) 5 free lookups per month. Popoff, he said, sends his own pre-blessed water, in a 16-ounce bottle, to add to all the jugs of Poland Spring. Tilton's rebuttal? And then he said something mysterious, maybe even beautiful. Duplantis argued that it was the love of money, not money itself, thats bad. Ted Haggard was the Chiclet-toothed face of evangelism for three years as the president of the National Association of Evangelicals. AMC is broadcasting a Peter Popoff "service" (scam session) as I type. I didn't know it then, but I would soon get to ask Popoff in person. Auditors come in every year. He moves slowly, but not fraillymore like a muscular man managing his own physique. Ad Choices. Wayfair Huge Deal-A-Thon - Up to 60% off everything! [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. Among other things, she's a hard and fast believer in the prosperity gospel, and also claims that all world leaders are put in power by divine grace and that to disagree with them is to disagree with the will of God, shining a whole new light on the place of pharaohs in society. We were taping television! Various sources indicate Popoff was born in East Berlin or West Berlin. He had everything. The Tonight Show expos made national news, and in 1987 the Peter Popoff Evangelistic Association filed for bankruptcy. 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. Arthritis, they said. Sanchez, who quit in early 2012, was one of two ex-employees who spoke with me. His extravagant personality cant be contained to the stage of his mega-church and seeps into every aspect of his life, including his $100,000 car and third private jet. [52] A 2012 Broadway musical adaptation of the same title was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical. When he talked, the people in his community listened. Like so many televangelists, Popoff had his heyday in the 1980s, back when preaching on TV was big businessand plenty mainstream. He's the founder of the Daystar Television Network, the second-largest Christian TV network on Earth. Tilton's message has been clear from the start: Poverty is the result of sin, and also please send money. Take a few steps and make the Devil mad!, The woman stood up, with his help, started shaking her hands, and then, as the organ and drum picked up the tempo, started shaking her hands faster. Ah, but here in America, time absolves all that. Yeah, praying for people would be a bummer. 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