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gotta remember...there's a judgement day for everyone.........................

"He sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He said, Take nothing for your journey: no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no spare coat."

somehow i don't believe these pastors (?) who live this lifestyle of the rich and famous would have been able to qualify for the task that Jesus set out for his disciples as described above.

How many/who should be surprised at this?

Is this not the same Oral Roberts who in the late 1980s said God told him to raise countless millions of dollars or God would take him home? That should have been a clue then! Were I that Oral Roberts, I would have started selling EVERYTHING....saying " I don't have it God, take me home now!"

With Richard the son, he appears to be following lockstep in the footprints of his father!

Buz, I concur with you. I do not have problems with ANYONE living comfortably. However, in the case of pastors/ministers, etc., the needs of those who are in need should be dealt with first, before living a "comfortable" life (as defined by people like the Roberts'!

Shalom

What amazes me is the number of people who still willingly give money to these clowns and listen to their obvious BS so raptly. These are the impresarios of the religious toolkit -- using fear and greed to enrich themselves and having no qualms about the dishonesty involved.

eric,
again i agree with you. imo the reason so many people give their $$$ to people like this is basically due to laziness on their own part - what i mean is - it is so much easier to go to a church on sunday and let the one standing in the pulpit tell you what you are to believe and what God expects of and from you - instead of searching the scriptures themselves to have first hand knowledge of the word of God.
the man in the pulpit tells us to give him our money for that is Gods will and that by doing this God will reward us richly - he tells us we are to sacrifice and God will reward us richly ( when he himself knows nothing of sacrifice). he tells us to be obedient ( to what he says Gods word says ) and we will be blessed richly - while he is disobedient in his own life........
you've heard me say it many times before........it is so much easier to live on borrowed faith - than to live on faith that you own. and to take ownership of your faith requires reading scriptures, meditation and conversation with the Father and hopefully the end result is a life lived in obedience to His word (not mans word).

The problem with Roberts et al. is a combination of TV Wonderland and bad theology, plus a healthy dose of avarice - a leathal combination. I have felt for some time that the days of brazen exploitation and funding abuse would soon come to an ignominious end. I don't think I'll be disappointed. Nevertheless, I have a sick feeling in my bosom when I think of the helpful and solid ministry that could have been offered. If they are removed from the air it will ultimately be God's doing and NOT the secular carion - just as it was God who lifted his protection and used the Babyonians to chastise Israel.

I've seen some pretty sound theology and non-expoitative MO on a modicum of Christian programming, but somehow I don't think TV and 3-D Christain reality are a good match - at this point in time anyway - maybe never - maybe no kind of reality. Certain types of ministry seem to do OK on the tube, but much of it falls prey to the larger-than-life, self-conscious, power-lust pitfalls of the medium.

I cringe with a comination of anger and deep sorrow as I view most TV programming. I can only pray that the Lord will have mercy and change it for the better soon. As for the secular offerings, they are getting more and more violent, debased and stupid. Again, there's some good stuff, but not much. I'm tempted more than once a week to cancel our dish connection - one temptation I probably should succomb to. The folloiwng passage from I Peter seems most appropriate:

"For the time is come that judgement must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin with us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?"