Posted on 05/05/2012 4:49:14 PM PDT by Steelfish
Family Feud Reveals Luxuries At Largest Christian TV Network Granddaughter attacks founders, who accuse her of embezzlement
The Trinity Broadcasting Network, which also runs the Holy Land Experience theme park in Orlando, Fla., is at the center of a family battle.
By Erik Eckholm
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. For 39 years, the Trinity Broadcasting Network has urged viewers to give generously and reap the Lords bounty in return.
The prosperity gospel preached by Paul and Janice Crouch, who built a single station into the worlds largest Christian television network, has worked out well for them.
Mr. and Mrs. Crouch have his-and-her mansions one street apart in a gated community here, provided by the network using viewer donations and tax-free earnings. But Mrs. Crouch, 74, rarely sleeps in the $5.6 million house with tennis court and pool. She mostly lives in a large company house near Orlando, Fla., where she runs a side business, the Holy Land Experience theme park. Mr. Crouch, 78, has an adjacent home there too, but rarely visits. Its occupant is often a security guard who doubles as Mrs. Crouchs chauffeur.
The twin sets of luxury homes only hint at the high living enjoyed by the Crouches, inspirational television personalities whose multitudes of stations and satellite signals reach millions of worshipers across the globe. Almost since they started in the 1970s, the couple have been criticized for secrecy about their use of donations, which totaled $93 million in 2010.
Now, after an upheaval with Shakespearean echoes, one son in this first family of televangelism has ousted the other to become the heir apparent. A granddaughter, who was in charge of TBNs finances, has gone public with the most detailed allegations of financial improprieties yet, which TBN has denied, saying its practices were audited and legal.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
http://www.wiscnews.com/baraboonewsrepublic/news/local/article_0153f168-9646-11e1-8e6b-0019bb2963f4.html
Hilarious in juxtaposition! :{)
There’s a sucker born every minute.
Riches? But what about The Pope? He has a whole country! /sarc
The pink haired woman?
It's this type of exploitation that will lead to a repeal of religious tax exemption.
Theres a sucker born every minute.
Sit in a church full of those suckers, and then ask yourself if there is hope for our country.
Most ministers are honest. These folks may have started out ok, then the greed set in. They are lost now, without repentance.
Good luck with that. LOL
TBN has great kids shows. I never sent them a dime but they run “Drive Thru History” and I appreciate it.
The worthy parts should be split off, maybe sold to EWTN lol
Seriously!
What do you think the odds are that your people donated to the Crouch’s?
Then we can put some Mary statues in the theme park lol
Here's my shocked face........
Praise the lord, and pass the basket.
Or as Wolfman Jack used to say, “Just send Five Dollars, cash, check or money order.”
Trinity Hq. building is on 405 freeway at approx. Bear interchange, Costa Mesa, next to Newport Beach.
Nice gig. Been copied over, and over. Benny Hinn down the coast a few miles.
Conservative Orange County is very well represented in this industry.
:{)
Behind all this is a paying audience that WANTS their spiritual representatives (the Crouches, et. al) to be rich, to live an “abundant life” in the name of Jesus. I see this audience as willfully naive, since reading the Bible for themselves would prevent them from supporting such false teachers in the first place.
Even in the Old Testament, where there were some very wealthy believers, riches were always tied to loving God and people (see Job), never as a blank check for greed and self-indulgence. Flash forward to the New Testament and you find the Son of Man with “no place to lay his head”, and many reversals of the concepts of “success” (see the martyred apostles, content with “food and clothing”). No surprise then that these televangelists are heavy on the Old Testament when (erroneously) defending their wealth.
True wealth as defined by GOD? To be heavy laden with Wisdom from above. “Godliness with contentment” equals “great gain”.
These folks may have started out ok, then the greed set in.
The bigger problem is the people sitting in the pews with no discernment. Lord, have mercy on our nation!
You made me spew ice water all over my screen!
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