Greed at TBN

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Sometime within the past 4 or 5 days, I was watching an episode of “Behind the Scenes,” which is a daily TV show on network TBN.

The show was being hosted by father and son team Paul Crouch Junior and Senior.

That the people of TBN -the station owners as well as many of the “Word of Faith” pastors who have shows on TBN- are a little too interested in money is something already pretty well known.

The appeals for fund raising on TBN usually run along the idiotic, over-used line of telling people if they “sow a (monetary) seed” in TBN (or with one of its television ministries), that God will reward the giver with more money (Pat Robertson of the “700 Club” show uses the term “reciprocity,” which is just another way of saying “sowing a seed” – in other words, it’s another name for the same con job). Nothing new there.

I watched only part of this episode before feeling disgusted and having to change channels.

Here is where the appeal for funds took a change of tactic.

The father was asking the son something along the lines of, “Do you believe that healing can be bought from God?”

And the son said something like, “The Bible does teach obedience, and if you give to God out of obedience, yes, I think you can get a healing.”

In other words, the Crouches were teaching the audience that God can be bought, or that God charges for His help. It was then that I turned the channel. I cannot believe anyone would lie and misled people to make a few bucks. I was beyond appalled.

On yet other episodes of this same show, I have seen Crouch Sr. make appeals for funds from his audience by quoting portions of the Old Testament.

Crouch Sr. will typically quote some story from the Old Testament where Israel was punished by God for breaking rules or rewarded if they did the right thing.

I guess some of the people at TBN aren’t aware of the fact that believers now live under a New Covenant now, we live under grace, due to Jesus’ sacrifice. We no longer live under the Old, works-based covenant of good works = rewards.

It’s true we get rewarded in the afterlife for good deeds we do as Christians in our earthly existence, but getting favors, help, assistance, or mercy from God in the ‘here and now’ is not entirely or necessarily dependent upon our actions or good deeds (or lack thereof).