Televangelism & Faith/Fake Healing

[Hegel Schmegel]

Foreword: The proceeding body of text, highlighted and in italics below, was authored by me and originally submitted on another online forum, a site that has multiple sub-forums devoted to discussing religious, spiritual, and paranormal themes and one in particular to discussing all things Christianity related, whether favorably or critically.

 

Upon receiving a few complementary and equally civil responses from fellow users, the thread I'd started on this topic, which had only been up for a day or two, was subsequently, curiously removed, on account of it supposedly being too 'controversial.'

 

I feel this subject matter is simply too culturally important to dismiss, and ought not to be relegated to the internet waste bin, and thus herein am trying out this topic on the DIF, in my re-posting said content verbatim.

 

You tell me, is this topic too 'controversial,' so much so that it's worth shameful censoring?

 

PS: Out of respect for this other online forum, I choose not to name it, as this isn't about back-talking but rather freedom of speech and open debate.

 

I'm quite surprised to find nary a mention of this largely interrelated topic anywhere on this site, when over the years prime-time preachers/televisional megapastors have certainly played an influential role within North American culture.

And so this thread, that at the outset has me wondering if there are any other forum users old enough to remember the 1980s and '90s -- what was considered the heyday of the electronic preacher phenomenon -- when once household names like Peter Popoff and Benny Hinn shared the airwaves. If so, what are your thoughts on televangelists?

Sex scandals notwithstanding, the reputation of televangelists in general is that they're charlatans, covert businessmen out to acquire wealth by means of swindling a gullible and charitable audience. 'Tis why they've often been parodied within cinema (as in the 1989 movie, Fletch Lives), as being small-screen characters rather transparent in their phoniness.

Granted, no doubt some TV ministers have been sincere and legitimate (I've always thought highly of the late Jack Van Impe, for example), as not all clad themselves in silk suits and expensive jewelry; exceptional cases who are not out to dupe poor seniors into donating what little is left of their pension cheques, but in my opinion these real McCoys have been few and far between.

Aside from often gaudy wardrobes and telling land assets, one thing that many of these Sunday morning entertainers tended to have in common was a claim to be able to cure people of their ailments and afflictions, via supernatural means. Yet were these stage performers really faith healers, or more so fake healers?

Prior to the age of televangelism there was what was called the revivalist period. Revivalists were itinerant preachers who would travel the country, performing at various tent shows. These events were often known for their theatrics -- loud, excitable speakers, attendees practically rolling in the aisles, and, most notably, a stream of folks lining up to the stage in the hopes of being miraculously healed.

For an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the tail end of what was the revivalist period in America, the 1972 documentary film, Marjoe, makes for highly recommended viewing. It tells the fantastic story of its human subject, who began his stage career as a revivalist showman at the mere age of 6 (!), and who, as an adult, takes to revealing some of the tricks of the trade, exposing the circuit as being a no-good racket more than anything else.

As someone who doesn't watch satellite TV, I cannot say whether televangelism is still popular or not, but there was a time back when cable TV was around when as a channel-surfer I would, on occasion, stop to watch a few minutes of Popoff or Hinn and be amazed that there were people who bought into this stuff.

With regard to what is termed faith healing, at least one well-known televangelist from the 1980s was exposed for having employed 'plants' -- men on the payroll, who would dress up as old ladies, in wigs and wheelchairs, and only pretend to be cured. In other cases, when attempts at televangelistic healing were known to fail, the explanation given for this was said to be due to a lack of faith in the intended recipient. How convenient. Of note is that, according to Scripture, genuine faith healing is said to occur at no cost and remotely, meaning it does not require the (showy) laying on of hands.

If there is an afterlife of eternal punishment for the wicked, one can only wonder what is in store for those who con and fake and amass fortunes doing so, and in the name of Christ, no less.

 

According to one prominent conspiracy researcher, known for having self-published a somewhat notable work on the Jesuits back in the '90s, most of the more influential televangelists in the '80s and into the '90s were not simply avaricious wolves in sheep's wool, out after riches, but were in fact nothing less than agents of the Illuminati, assigned to infiltrate the world of telecasting, with the primary mission of making Christianity look bad to the average couch potato. Along the way, should the undercover, anti-Christian actor manage to make a few hundred million dollars on behalf of his masters in the process, call it gravy. According to this theory, if all a person knew of Christianity was from what s/he saw on TV, doubtless they would be put off the religion and would look no further into it. Hence, so the author claims, why also several of these televangelists were so easily exposed in the news for having committed adultery, with the intent of this being to paint all clergyman as covert hypocrites into leading double lives.

What I find so astonishing is that even when these sex scandals made headlines, the shocking news did nothing really to decrease ratings or lessen viewership, at least not to any significant extent.

One well-known televangelist from said era was raking in an estimated $35 million a year, while another was no doubt grabbing the attention of heresy hunters, in teaching a nine-member godhead. Then there was the case of a televangelist and evident egotist who would mail out to those on his donor list hankies said to contain holy perspiration taken from his brow. Could've been only ordinary droplets of water for all we know, or sweat beads from someone other than the sender, but such critical thinking skills did not prevent many an addressee from willingly parting with their money in order to have it. Sometimes dupes get what they deserve.

It is a subject that has long fascinated me and so recently, I took to researching its modern-day origins. Apparently, it all began with a Canadian Pentecostal by the name of Aimee Semple McPherson (aka, Sister Aimee), who was quite the celebrity in her time, during the 1920s and '30s. (The 1931 movie, The Miracle Woman, was reported to be loosely based on her life story as a traveling 'faith healer.') From simple farm girl to media sensation, McPherson would go onto found the first megachurch, located in California: the million-dollar Angelus Temple. Fast-forward a few decades and we come to yet another then famous and influential female preacher, (the kinda creepy, in my opinion) Kathryn Kuhlman, and the rest is history in a paragraphical nutshell.

It's been said that faith-healers are often sought out by desperate folks as a last resort in potential treatment for what the medical community has rendered an incurable illness. The question becomes, whether any man or woman of God possesses the 'Gift of Healing' in our post-apostolic period? Consider that Jesus, who had the power to heal and who is thought to be the greatest magician of all time, still, rather curiously, advised some who approached him who were sick, for them to seek out a physician.

Interesting it was to learn that once upon a time, centuries ago, even European nobility got in on the act of supposed divine healing, which gave us the expression the 'Royal Touch.'

Of interest, too, is that among some tribal communities found in non-Western, underdeveloped countries, such is known of the natives to successfully rid cases of illness and ailments by way of clairvoyant abilities. If true, then Christianity holds no monopoly on faith healing/miracle cures. In addition, back in the 19th and early 20th century America, Spiritualists were also said to have healed people via their own methods as well, either through help from alleged contact with benevolent nonhuman beings or via psychic surgery on the patient's etheric body.