Free Republic

In a recent broadcast, televangelist Jim Bakker announced that his ministry is facing severe financial difficulties and may cease operations within a month without an urgent infusion of funds. The last few years have not been kind to Bakker. A couple of years ago, the embattled Bakker had his credit card companies cut him off and reduced him to only taking checks to support his ever-dwindling ministry. This has made him desperate to hawk any prophecy, piece, or potion he can to keep the lights on, including selling a $1000 miracle blanket or having guests that claimed a Reptile Alien...

Recalling a sober moment he had while at Cornerstone Church, Chan said he baptized a kid from a gang but that kid later left though he was quite involved in the church. "One of my friends asked him, 'Hey, how come you're not at Cornerstone anymore?' He said 'I didn't understand church. When I was baptized, I thought that was going to be being jumped into the gang where it's like 24/7 they're my family, because I didn't know it was just somewhere we attend on Sundays." When Chan heard that, he said it made him sick. "That makes me...

We’re seeing a society become unhinged…again. Trump has quite a way with the radical Left. They absolutely hate him and DOGE, and they daily hourly lose it. Now they’re burning Teslas (so much for climate care), raging in hotel lobbies and on college campuses to defend Hamas supporters, and cursing up a storm at rallies. It's not just paid activists and politicians jumping into the resistance ring; it’s leftist “faith leaders” too. Recently, nearly 100 “progressive” religious folks signed a letter demanding an unbiblical “Return to Jesus.” The Lenten letter demanded that hundreds of millions of wasted taxpayer dollars continue...

Cross border conflicts in the Middle East continue to escalate, as Israeli airstrikes bombard the Lebanese capital of Beirut. How much longer can Hezbollah survive to pose a real threat to the Jewish State? Meanwhile, in shocking news from northern Israel, several Israeli citizens were busted in an apparent Iranian spy ring. What actions will Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu take to curb this Iranian aggression? Watch now.

In the past year, several high-profile Texas megachurch pastors have either stepped down or been dismissed due to what's been labeled as “immoral behavior” or “conduct unbecoming of a pastor.” These terms may sound vague, but they point to a troubling pattern of persistent wrongdoing, ranging from sexual misconduct to financial dishonesty and abuses of power.Tony Evans resigned from his pastoral duties at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, in June 2024 due to “past sins.” While he clarified that he had not committed a crime, he admitted to a failure to exercise righteous judgment. The specifics of the...

Megachurch Pastor Keion Henderson of The Lighthouse Church is under fire after being seen in a newly resurfaced clip warning congregants that if they give to the poor they won’t be blessed by God. Instead, he insists that if his listeners want to supernaturally multiply their wealth, they need to be tithing to his ministry. We would expect nothing less from Henderson, who spends half his sermons preaching the prosperity gospel and the other half parading around his luxury clothing and accessories from the stage. As All Things Theology has pointed out, Keion is a huckster and terrible bible preacher...

On May 19, 2024, prosperity-gospel heretic Joel Osteen preached his 1000th sermon before a packed crowd at Lakewood church, giving a message of health and wealth in a sermon titled A Thousand Times More. Osteen was ordained through his father’s church in 1983 and preached his first sermon on January 17, 1999. He was a stand-in for his father, John Osteen, who was in a hospital bed at the time and passed later that day. Bristling with nervous energy and wearing a suit and jacket too large for him, a mulleted Osteen fumbled his way through 1 Corinthians while encouraging...

Arch-heretic Benny Hinn is deleting a raft of videos from his YouTube channel, willingly losing millions of views in the wake of a devastating exposé against him. Two weeks ago, we reported that a ministry associated with Benny Hinn was claiming copyright strikes against Mike Winger, unjustly targeting him on account of a video critical of the famed con man* After Winger released a four-hour-long blistering critique of Hinn, replete with multiple videos and commentary demonstrating that the money-grubbin’ heretic is a two-fold son of hell (Our description, not his), the video was struck by Jesus Image Ministries, an enterprise...

The shooter who entered Lakewood Church on Sunday with a long rifle and child in tow has been identified as Genesse Ivonne Moreno, according to multiple sources. The 36-year-old previously identified as Jeffrey Escalante and had prior arrests for assault, forgery, marijuana possession, theft, evading and unlawful carrying of a weapon, according to KHOU's Jeremy Rogalski. Accoring to a Texas Department of Public Safety records search, her criminal report dates back to 2005. Members of the FBI, Conroe Police Department, Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, Houston Police Department and Texas Rangers arrived at a Conroe home hours after the Sunday shooting...

Church attendance across the Western world has dropped drastically—and continues to drop with every generation. In the USA, Generation Z church attendance is down to less than 9%. What is going on? Well, this is an issue I’ve been addressing for years, pointing the church back to the primary issue: an erosion of the authority of God’s Word and a lack of answers given to the next generation. So how can we stop this exodus?

An increasing share of American Protestant churchgoers believe that financial prosperity is part of God's plan for them and that giving more money to their church and charities will result in blessings from God, according to a recent study by Lifeway Research. The study, conducted from Sept. 19-29, 2022, and released this week, found that 52% of churchgoers say their church teaches that God will bless them if they donate more, up from 38% in 2017. Additionally, 76% believe God wants them to prosper financially, an increase from 69% in 2017. The belief that they must do something for God...

Kimberly Jones is the Senior ‘pastor’ of Limitless Church in Fayetteville, Georgia. Known by her moniker Real Talk Kim, she is a “mother, pastor, entrepreneur, mentor, motivational speaker, entertainer, and best-selling author” featured in the spiritually crass and unseemly TV show Preachers of Atlanta. She was previously co-senior pastor of Church of The Harvest alongside her husband, Mark Pothier, but she divorced him and formed her own congregation after he allegedly cheated on her. A mixture of the worst excess of Joel Osteen and the most irritating parts of Steven Furtick, her preaching style might be described as prosperity gospel...

An increasing share of American Protestant churchgoers believe that financial prosperity is part of God's plan for them and that giving more money to their church and charities will result in blessings from God, according to a recent study by Lifeway Research.The study, conducted from Sept. 19-29, 2022, and released this week, found that 52% of churchgoers say their church teaches that God will bless them if they donate more, up from 38% in 2017.Additionally, 76% believe God wants them to prosper financially, an increase from 69% in 2017. The belief that they must do something for God to receive...

Below is a list of the largest media ministries in the country. These days, almost all ministries have some media component, Pastors write books. Journalists have podcasts. However, the list below is a list of those ministries whose work is primarily media driven. They include media organizations — such as television and radio networks — as well as “teaching and preaching ministries” whose presence is primarily on radio and television. For those of you who are fluent in the MinistryWatch 1000 database, this list includes the “Educational Media” and the “Radio/TV Stations” categories. It is important to note that this...

About 40 million Americans have stopped going to church in the past 25 years. “That’s something like 12 percent of the population, and it represents the largest concentrated change in church attendance in American history,” he writes. The Great Dechurching, a forthcoming book analyzing surveys of more than 7,000 Americans conducted by two political scientists, attempts to figure out why so many Americans have left churches in recent years. The book suggests that the defining problem driving out most people who leave is … just how American life works in the 21st century. Contemporary America simply isn’t set up to...

Rev. Al Sharpton’s charity nearly doubled his compensation and also shelled out close to $300,000 for private jets so that he and other bigwigs could attend “important gatherings.” The National Action Network paid Sharpton $348,174 in 2021 as its president and CEO and gave him a hefty bonus of $278,503 — plus $22,117 worth of benefits for total compensation of $648,794, its latest tax filing shows. The preacher’s 2020 compensation came to $347,183, which did not include a bonus. NAN also forked over nearly $1 million on private jets and limos.

The New York bishop who was robbed at gunpoint during a livestreamed service was once accused of conning a congregant out of her life savings, according to court documents - all while running his unsuccessful campaign for Brooklyn Borough president in 2021. Bishop Lamor Whitehead, known for his designer clothes and luxury cars, raised eyebrows when police valued the worth of the jewelry stolen from him and his family on Sunday to be close to $1 million. Whitehead has over 1.6 million followers on Instagram, where he regularly goes live. The parishioner, Pauline Anderson, sued Whitehead in September 2021, alleging...

Three thieves were caught on tape barging into a Brooklyn church on Sunday where controversial bishop Lamor Whitehead — an ally to Mayor Adams — was preaching and snatched $400,000 worth of jewelry off of him and his wife. Whitehead, the Rolls-Royce-driving bishop who recently tried to broker a deal for the surrender of a man accused of a subway murder to the mayor, was preaching at Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministry on Remsen Ave. near Avenue D in Canarsie about 11:15 a.m. Sunday when three masked bandits stormed into the church, the pastor and cops confirmed. When the armed...

New footage shows the trio who cops believe accosted a flashy Brooklyn bishop and snatched up more than $1 million in jewelry during a live-streamed church service. The footage, released late Thursday and marked with a timestamp of Sunday around 11:05 a.m. – minutes before the heist at the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries – shows the three suspects walking on the sidewalk with their hoods pulled up and their faces covered. Bishop Lamor Whitehead, 44, was in the middle of his sermon at the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in Canarsie around 11:14 a.m. when the trio burst in,...

Challenging popular Evangelical belief, controversial televangelist Creflo Dollar, one of America's most flamboyant proponents of the prosperity gospel, has renounced tithing and all his previous teachings on the subject as "not correct." He also urged his followers to "throw away every book, every tape and every video I ever did on the subject of tithing" but says he will not apologize for his error. In a Sunday sermon billed "The Great Misunderstanding," the founder and senior pastor of the nearly 30,000-member World Changers Church International headquartered in College Park, Georgia, said he is aware that his declaration will cause him...