Free Republic

December 5, 2006 – (www.joelosteen.com) America’s “Most Watched Pastor” Joel Osteen will be featured on Barbara Walters Presents: "The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2006". The annual hour-long ABC news special highlights some of the year's most prominent names in entertainment, politics, sports and business. Joel Osteen is the first pastor to be featured on the program, which is scheduled to air Tuesday, December 12, 10:00 PM ET on the ABC Television Network. Joel Osteen is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling book, Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential, which has...

Two of the most prominent faces in American televangelism, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland of Fort Worth, preach the gospel of financial prosperity. But News Eight learned some former business associates are wondering why that gospel didn't apply to everyone in the flock. The people who ran Affordable Homes Limited said it was just about to take off when the Copelands suddenly backed out and left tens of thousands of dollars of debt. While limited partners like the Copelands have no financial obligation to pay the company's debts, the question being asked by creditors is how do the Copelands later pay...

by Mark Finkelstein March 16, 2006 You'd think that of all days, they'd be believers over at Today this morning. After all, they were blessed with presidential poll numbers for which they were surely praying. Numbers so low that Matt Lauer, Tim Russert et. al could spend an extended first segment reveling in them. Ironically, in sowing some GOP dissent, Lauer even used the language of religion, suggesting the low numbers were "a blessing in disguise" for congressional Republicans because "they can look and say I don't have a popular president here, I can turn my back on that President."...

On eve of fraud trial, Christian investors say they were betrayed When Gregory Setser's import empire came crashing down two years ago, little was left to pay back hundreds of investors and church groups who funded his International Product Investment Corp. with at least $160 million. Big-name evangelists and everyday churchgoers are among those who were invited to invest in a plan to import cheap, foreign-made goods for pre-arranged sales to retailers like Garden Ridge, Kmart, Michaels and Pier 1. But what remained after the Securities and Exchange Commission shut the company down serves as testament to the lavish California...

You guys hear the latest on Mr. Robertson, Apparently he is being sued by Hugo Chavez. (CBS/AP) President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that his government may ask the United States to extradite U.S. religious broadcaster Pat Robertson to Venezuela for suggesting American agents should kill him. Earlier Sunday, Rev. Jesse Jackson offered support for Chavez, saying the televangelist's call for the Venezuelan leader's assassination was a criminal act. The U.S. civil rights leader, who is on a four-day visit to Venezuela, called Robertson's statements "immoral" and "illegal." He urged U.S. authorities to take action, and said the U.S. government must...

CARACAS, Venezuela, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday his government would take legal action against Pat Robertson and potentially seek his extradition after the U.S. evangelist called for Washington to assassinate the South American leader. Robertson, who later apologized for the remark, said he was expressing his frustration with Chavez's constant accusations against the administration of President George W. Bush. "I announce that my government is going to take legal action in the United States ... to call for the assassination of a head of state is an act of terrorism." Chavez said in a...

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson called on Monday for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, calling him a "terrific danger" to the United States. Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition of America and a former presidential candidate, said on "The 700 Club" it was the United States' duty to stop Chavez from making Venezuela a "launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism." Chavez has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of President Bush, accusing the United States of conspiring to topple his government and possibly backing plots to assassinate him. U.S. officials have...

RALEIGH, N.C. Former televangelist Tammy Faye Messner says cancer has returned to her lungs, marking her third battle with the illness. Messner was first diagnosed with colon cancer nearly a decade ago. Last year she announced that the disease had spread to her lungs, where it has since reappeared. Messner says she's "not worried ... not afraid," adding: "By the third time you have cancer, you begin to think about your mortality." Despite her ailment, Messner is planning to continue traveling the country to give inspirational talks. The former Tammy Faye Bakker divorced Jim Bakker in 1992 while he was...

STARVATION: DAY 7 Minister to Jeb Bush: Disobey court order D. James Kennedy says governor must 'disregard' judge to save Terri Posted: March 24, 2005 5:00 p.m. Eastern With all legal remedies apparently exhausted, a prominent evangelical Christian leader is urging Jeb Bush to disobey a judge's order barring the Florida governor from intervening to save the life of Terri Schiavo. In a statement shortly after Judge George Greer's decision today, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., minister D. James Kennedy pointed to Bush "as the only legal authority who can save the life of Terri Schiavo. " Kennedy, president of Coral Ridge...

Televangelist Paul Crouch, founder of the world's largest Christian broadcasting network, has waged a fierce legal battle to prevent a former employee from publicizing allegations that he and Crouch had a sexual encounter eight years ago. Crouch, 70, is the president of Trinity Broadcasting Network, based in Orange County, whose Christian programming reaches millions of viewers around the world via satellite, cable and broadcast stations. The source of the allegations against him is Enoch Lonnie Ford, who met Crouch at a TBN-affiliated drug treatment center in 1991 and later went to work for the ministry. After Ford threatened to sue...

Repent, sinners. Your Macintosh is a tool to promote Godless Communism and anti-Creationist "propaganda", according to an article at OBJECTIVE: Christian Ministries. Dr. Richard Paley, apparently "a teacher of Divinity and Theobiology at Fellowship University," starts out with discussions of the PBS series Evolution and Pokemon, and goes on to say: However, these propagandists aren't just targeting the young. Take for example Apple Computers, makers of the popular Macintosh line of computers. The real operating system hiding under the newest version of the Macintosh operating system (MacOS X) is called... Darwin! That's right, new Macs are based on Darwinism! While...