"His scams are endless. He was introduced to Popoff when Popoff was only 15; Skelton was the organist in Popoff's father's road show, then in Popoff's, off and on, from 1965 to 1990. Popoff's employees are on guard for more than just the media. Haggard wound up disgraced and ejected from his church. Actions like that should be red flags for congregation members, but like the big questions in life, even minute dealings with religion are complicated. He lives in a rather large estate on the shores of Eagle Mountain lake just north of Fort Worth, and somehow his 60+ acre estate of improved lakefront property with a private runway and fully Susan and Tony are broadcasting their gospel and living in a 14,000-square-foot mansion in Arkansas on a compound staffed by their followers, who are paid $5 a week and get food when they're good. In his extracurricular life, Popoff came to see himself, in those Cold War years, as a kind of Christian 007, sneaking Bibles into Communist lands. I held up my broken finger. By the end of that year, we were back to where we were. He said that they never went off the air, never stopped doing live shows. Well, there are no guarantees. He also stated that a gay-friendly church was a satanic cult and that its inevitable annihilation would cause a celebration in heaven. I sensed the same ambivalence when I met Larry Skelton. I didn't know it then, but I would soon get to ask Popoff in person. Instead, they seek what we all seek: hope that our lives will improve, that someone cares and that theres more than whats readily seen by the eye. This Halloween, there are spookier things than ghosts or the number of womens costumes attempting to make cats and other household pets sexy. British telecommunications regulator Ofcom (UK Office of Communication) has fined a UK television network for airing the program of discredited TV [1][13][21][22][23], Randi also planted accomplices in Popoff's audiences, including a man dressed as a woman whom Popoff "cured" of uterine cancer at a meeting in Detroit in 1984. It's the tradition of Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, and all the other TV preachers who rose up to take the place of the vanquished buffoons from the 1980s. Popoff is better than he knows. He's an archduke, and his armies march on Luxembourg this very night. [47] In 2003, his ministry received over $9.6 million, and in 2005, over $23 million. She had first responded to my pestering a few months earlier, but I never expected that the Popoffs would consent to an interview. Animals and humans drinking from the spring were purportedly spared radiation sickness. All rights reserved. "Pete has contributed so much to the success and Billy James Hargis was resolute. Interestingly, it also states in Matthew that Jesus said, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." The other, somebody higher up, told me that the distribution of the miracle spring water was subcontracted to a packaging plant in Cedar Grove, New Jersey. If news vans come by, the receptionist or security guy, whoever sees it first, she notified all the top people, letting them know the building is on lockdown.. Peter Popoff Biography The birth name of this Con man and televangelist is Peter Popoff. Two rings through his lower lip framed his broad smile. C CarpeDeezNutz Member Feb 14, 2016 #14 Oversoul said: He got caught once in the past by The scene dissolved to a woman sharing a bit of testimony with Popoff and the crowd. After all, in an age when a TV tycoon can win the White House, vowing to build walls and move markets with sheer chutzpah, there's opportunity for a clever fellow who knows that people running on pure faith fall easily in love with big promises. I put it in his bed, I put it on his pillow, and my son joined the church and he got saved and he's still in churchand then I got $3,800 and new furniture., Such blessings! You could see, there was no fakery to it. It was a shame how many shred bins were full to the rim with prayer requests awaiting to be destroyed and never seen again, Sanchez wrote. If you learn one thing today, let it be this: America is the land of second chances, and televangelism is the seedy island territory just offshore where we house third, fourth, and fifth chances. Jones figured out who Ted was during his non-meth-and-solicitation hours and blabbed to the press. Once, Peter Popoff was a giant among '80s televangelists, wealthy until being ruined in scandal. This didn't look like a house of worship; it looked like a mailing address. Peter Popoff inhabits both hemispheres of our national brain, the Puritan and the magician. But I'd noticed his hesitation, and he could tell that I'd noticed, so he explained. [citation needed], The 1992 Steve Martin dramedy Leap of Faith was inspired by Popoff's fraudulent ministry, and demonstrated a number of the techniques Popoff and other televangelist scammers use to create the illusion of divine intervention. He touches them and they feel better. They cant be faulted for the misdeeds of Duplantis, but its important that we all exercise a little caution when choosing our religious conduit. He kept going, and now does infomercials selling his patented Miracle Manna, a guaranteed cure for, according to Popoff, basically everything. The personification of this phenomenon might well be Peter Popoff. [38] "Debt cancellation is part of God's plan", according to Popoff, who taught that God would respond to prayer and seed-faith by providing financial blessing. Televangelism. The couple's 7,300-square-foot house, purchased for $4.5 million in 2007, sits in a gated community in Bradbury, California, and is owned by his church. Apparently, plants in the audience would chat people up or get them to jot down details, then feed their information to Liz, who passed it on to her husband through an earpiece. Like Popoff, they used the offer of a religious trinket (a free prayer cloth) to compile an address list. But he was also an enormous fraud who was ruined in scandal. But here's the thing about Peter and Liz Popoff and their kids: They could have all their ski trips and Bentleys and Clydesdale horses without ever working another day in their lives. Sitting on a stage, in an upholstered chair, Popoff implored his television audience to call an 800 number so that he could send them a secret faith tool that God had recently given him as he was praying about the four red moons of this year of Jubilee. If that wasn't incentive enough, there was more reason to reach for the phone. Since 1957, GQ has inspired men to look sharper and live smarter with its unparalleled coverage of style, culture, and beyond. But I had never heard about him before. Sanchez said that the buildings were essentially big processing centers for cash, checks, and valuables. I wasn't aware yet of the ski vacations or his affinity for tennis or how much he adored his Bentley. Peter Popoff is not the only Televangelist out there scamming people. So that every little package of water contains a few molecules of holiness. There's a lot of ground to cover with Jerry Falwell. Peter George Popoff (born July 2, 1946) is a German-born American televangelist and debunked clairvoyant and faith healer. He was exposed in 1986 for using a concealed earpiece to receive radio messages from his wife, who gave him the names, addresses, and ailments of audience members during Popoff-led religious services. It felt good, as hugs do. I wiggled my pinkiewhich I had been able to do, anywayand he shouted, You are healed! and gave me a long, tight hug. I met the very friendly father and two sons who owned the place, and they confirmed for me that they do business with Popoff, but they didn't say much more. How does Duplantis manage to make such conspicuous purchases without raising the ire of those who follow him? [37], Popoff was designated by the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) as one of its recipients of the 2011 Pigasus Award for fraudulent practices, along with Mehmet Oz (from The Dr. Oz Show) and CVS Pharmacy. He was exposed in 1986 for using a concealed earpiece to receive radio messages from his wife, who gave him the names, addresses, and ailments of audience members during Popoff-led religious services. You've been to Europe? The Tonight Show expos made national news, and in 1987 the Peter Popoff Evangelistic Association filed for bankruptcy. [27] Popoff's attorney, William Simon, "attributed the collapse of his ministry to financial mismanagement more than to disclosures about Popoff. Both seem to be running cons, but both have followers who either don't notice or don't care. An Honest Liar: Exposing Peter Popoff. Fans of Robert Tilton know him as the host of Success-N-Life. What I didn't yet know was the full extent of what the old preacher had gotten himself up to. His wife eyed me warily. With a promise to heal the sick, Popoff convened huge crowds, where he relied on a shtick that involved calling out the name and ailment of someone in the audience he had never met, as if God had just vouchsafed him the information. It turns out that some news just gets spread faster when you're being blackmailed for $7.5 million. According to him, three women who had previously worked for him had threatened to go public with the information if they weren't paid $7.5 million. * Prefix First Middle Last The script includes Elizabeth Popoff's infamous line, "Hello Petey, can you hear me? The incoming monthly take went down by a third for three months; the fourth month it stabilized, and the fifth month it started growing again, Popoff said. Every kind of sickness. Popoff was born in Occupied Berlin[4][a] on July 2, 1946,[5] the son of George and Gerda Popoff. Get converts, get time on the slopes, get a tax exemption. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, thenView saved stories. Cut to the mid-'70s. They prey on the weak, the elderly, those in pain or close to being homeless. I still can't decide. This septuagenarian clocks the hours of a junior lawyer trying to make partner. Eventually Popoff admitted the existence of the radio device, but claimed that Elizabeth only "occasionally" gave him "the name of a person who needs special prayers". If you're one of the people on this list, you're almost definitely going to say the devil made you do it. While he is more or less the nicest guy in the world, he also drives a Bentley and lives in a house worth more than 5 million bucks. There was no church sign outsideand certainly no sign of a church inside. The envelopes also included the miracle water or one of various worthless, made-in-China gewgaws: revelation stones; red strings that resemble the Kabbalah bracelets Madonna used to wear; and baruch wallets, flimsy silver lam pouches with a slit at the top, in which I was encouraged to insert money to mail back to Popoff. His church, the Church of the Christian Crusade, spread a staunchly conservative interpretation of Christianity. In 2009, Popoff began running advertisements in UK periodicals offering a free cross containing "blessed water" and "holy sand". Pete Popoff We found 30 records for Pete Popoff in CA, FL and 6 other states. The accusations are numerous and diverse. I'd be all for this if the company he ran was legitimate; however, he more or less takes money from people's belief in God, and makes false promises to cure ailments and bring financial success. [53], "Popoff" redirects here. Peter Popoff Popped. The apparent oddity of the merger was raised with Popoff in a 2011 deposition when he was asked why an international TV ministry based in California might merge with a minuscule church outside of Dallas. On paper, Popoff's new outfit hadn't technically been a churchthat's because it never had a physical house of worshipbut instead functioned as a religious non-profit. Many would obey, tossing away bottles of digitalis, nitroglycerine, and other important maintenance medications. And tubs and tubs of gold and stones came in. I was flitting between channels when I happened upon BET. Before I knew it, he was upon me. This is what he said: That mess he got into, that was 30 years ago. Meanwhile, as chief administrative officer (Amy) and executive vice president (Nick), they prosper alongside him. Is that your cane? he asked an old woman. Some people will call it dumb luck. Mark Oppenheimer is the editor-at-large at Tablet magazine. A few months ago, I flew to Texas and tried to visit Word for the World on a Sunday morning, hoping to catch a rousing Pentecostal service. Berlin wasn't divided into east and west until 1949, three years after Popoff was born. In this crowd, I was very white, very young, and very male. Peter Popoff was one of the bolder frauds in televangelist history. Hes also a chief perpetrator when it comes to unscrupulous religious practices. Peter's list included more crusades, Book some fun trips including Italy, Skiing, and Lake Tahoe, and, at number five, Tax Exemption in Canada. It was an astonishing prcis of the prosperity gospel. If I wasn't going to see a service, I still wanted to visit Popoff's office. Yet here they are, hitting mildewy, ticky-tacky hotel ballrooms and convention centers in a dozen cities every year, as if the salvation of the world depended on it. 20 Dislike Share. In the previous decade, he'd founded the Moral Majority PAC shortly after an all-white Christian academy that he founded was threatened with losing its tax exempt status due to new legislation regarding segregated schools. Popoff was homeschooled after the eighth grade, so he could travel and preach with his father. The president got a jet and we bought it.. Attendees of his sermons were amazed when he'd call out strangers by name, knowing exactly what afflicted them through the divine providence of God. A month later, they've outgrown the darned things, and you have to ask your parishioners for $54 million to buy new ones. He went on to say that "on the days it didn't show, you still had to pay for the auditorium, so you needed to help the Holy Spirit along. Arthritis, they said. Auditors come in every year. When he talked, the people in his community listened. AMC is broadcasting a Peter Popoff "service" (scam session) as I type. When partners wouldn't donate so much money, they would cut back on staff, Sanchez said. Victims were interviewed, including a married couple who charged that Popoff had taken "thousands of dollars" from them. He said he was the only guy in receivingif it came to Unit Pack, it came to him. F. Scott Fitzgerald famously noted that "there are no second acts in American lives." Truly, we are all human, and even the best among us must strive to be better. The parking lot was deserted, and the building was locked. They made blood sacrifices. I measure it out and add it into the drums.. And getting off crutches, that was big, toothis is why people needed Popoff's healing touch. I'm the one who pours the blessed water into the drums, said the man with the lip rings. And if they don't feel better? You have permission to edit this article. His extravagant personality cant be contained to the stage of his mega-church and seeps into every aspect of his life, including his $100,000 car and third private jet. Televangelist Jesse Duplantis and his ministry based in Destrehan, La. He descended into the crowd, trailing an entourage of security men, his son, and a camera crew. [40], In the mid-2000s, Popoff began to offer "Miracle Spring Water" on late-night infomercials in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. He believes in divine magicto enrich you, to heal you, or just to entertain youbut not at the expense of the work ethic. Unfortunately for Swaggart, hell hath no fury like a minor television celebrity scorned, and Gorman had Swaggart followed and photographed during a rendezvous with a local prostitute. Their lawyers and friends can tell them to shut up, but that makes them look guilty, and they don't feel guilty. Yet here he was, all these years later, peddling miracle water and his own healing touch to an audience of African-Americans who seemed not to have gotten the memo that he was a mountebank. And yet, they did. ", James Randi exposes Uri Geller and Peter Popoff, Skeptics with a K Episode 157 (A special episode covering Marshal Masters visit to Popov's London gathering), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Peter_Popoff&oldid=1129525069, Religious controversies in the United States, Articles with incomplete citations from November 2012, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2021, Pages using Sister project links with default search, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 25 December 2022, at 22:14. He works hard for his money. Popoff would tell attendees suffering from a variety of illnesses to "break free of the devil" by throwing their prescription pills onto the stage. He was made of stuff too stern for something as trifling as a complete lack of moral fiber to knock him out of the box. There's nothing magical about them, he said about the spring water, the baruch wallet, and all the stuff I'd gotten in the mail. Peter George Popoff (born July 2, 1946) is a German-born American televangelist and debunked clairvoyant and faith healer. It's not something I snapped my fingers and it magically appeared. [2] "We've done so many stories about him, but it never does any good," said Ole Anthony, founder of Trinity Foundation, which has investigated Popoff and other faith healers since 1987. Peter George Popoff (born July 2, 1946) is a German-born American televangelist and debunked clairvoyant and faith healer. He has also a nick name and it is Peter Popoff. I find it difficult to believe all of Duplantis followers are under a spell, though. [31] Various other media outlets have run similar stories. Skelton invited me in, with an air of resignation. In the late 1980s he was exposed as a fraud on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. (Turned out, an What is there to say about it that hasn't already been said in countless documentaries, exposs, and depositions? Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. I was surprised when the address for the church I had found online took me to a storefront in an industrial park. And ever since then, I know, I personally know, that he is by the book and careful. Staring at the TV, I was transfixed. [50], The radio transmitter incident was parodied in the 1989 movie "Fletch Lives". The $1.3 million in church funds that an IRS investigation found redirected to the Bakkers' personal accounts couldn't take Jim down, but CNN reports the alleged hush money payment of $279,000 to cover up the rape of his secretary certainly pushed the "pause" button on his success story. Though he didn't focus on TV, he lived the good life as a minister and Christian comedian, traveling the world spreading his message that the devil is coming for you and you'd better be ready to fight him. These programs air on Mainstream cable stations airtime sold (usually) by a third party media broker, then inserted by your local cable or satellite company. Donald Trump's presidency will be, with any luck, the most polarizing point in American history that we'll live to experience. So I asked friends in ten locales spread across the country to give $10 to Popoff, then sit back and wait for tickets. Peter Popoffs net worth is estimated to be in excess of $12 million as of 2023. Jason produced video segments interspersing the intercepted radio transmissions with Popoff's "miraculous" pronouncements. Popoff is of the same generation as Bruce Springsteen, and he clearly shares the Boss's compulsion to never let an audience down. [11] The powers he claimed included the abilities to heal the sick and foretell the future. Shabalalalalalalala! he cried. Its new address was just down the road, I discovered, in a strip mall. He's trying to get something, all rightmillions of something, in factbut not for nothing. In May 2018, the famed television minister put out a call to action. Hallelujah! Popoff yanked her cane away and tossed it up onstage. He was tapping into something far more powerful: our desire to get something for nothing. I signed up for his mailing list. Critics later documented that the recipients of these dramatic "cures" were fully ambulatory people who had been seated in wheelchairs by Popoff's assistants prior to broadcasts. He said he prayed so hard over the letters that the ink leaked into his bloodstream, and by the way that's why he needed plastic surgery, paid for by aforementioned donations. Later, Popoff's people would tell me that the church had recently moved and it was going by a new name now, too. You just got a dog? [1], In 1998, The Washington Post reported that Popoff was making a comeback, seeking to jump-start his ministry by repackaging himself for an African American audience, buying time on the Black Entertainment Television network. These programs included offers of free "Miracle Manna" that allegedly provided health and financial miracles. The resulting backlash was split. Yeah, they deliver it right here, he said. [48] Financial data is not available for Popoff's ministry since 2005 because Peter Popoff Ministries changed from a for-profit business to a religious organization in 2006, making it tax-exempt. What followed was a House of Cards-worthy circle of blackmail that saw Gorman reinstated and Swaggart taken off the air for a spell. This was a year ago, and the soft glow of cable TV was the room's only light. I've seen people with a short leg that had, for a while, a six-inch buildup on one of their shoes, said Skelton, who's 80, ten years older than Popoff. Location Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States Work Helicopter Pilot @ Us Army Senior Recruiter @ Us Army Finance Manager @ Us Army Education Liberty University For Peter Popoff, we do 35 gallon-size jugs at a time, once or twice a month. I took a bathroom break in Popoff's private lavatory, right off his office. He claimed to be able to diagnose (and cure) any of his churchgoers' hidden diseases just by asking the I can see God leading people into new homes, new automobiles! God gives supernatural debt cancellation! And I'd like to send you the miracle spring water., The show cut to video of Popoff working a room of sick, elderly African-Americans. Soon afterward, he gave the speech where he cried a lot and asked for forgiveness. It had been years, and he had changed some: a few more wrinkles, a little hitch in his gait, the hair a bit more aggressively black. Please Share your prayer needs with Prophet Popoff below. How is Peter Popoff not in jail or arrested? Everybody's known that one dude that can't stop himself from one-upping. After the bankruptcy, Popoff, like some of his fellow Pentecostal preachers, receded somewhat from view. I had found Sanchez after reading The Real Truth Behind People United for Christ, the e-book detailing her time there that she self-published in 2013. And since Hell (probably) doesn't exist, the only winner here is Popoff. Late last November, my nationwide dragnet for tickets to see Popoff snagged something. He had a lot of feelings. Select the best result to find their address, phone number, relatives, and public records. Right alongside our Puritan work ethic and entrepreneurial drive runs our instinctive love for the lottery. Skelton didn't return my calls, so one Sunday, I staked out his house in Mesquite, a hard-luck Dallas exurb. One time they came with 130 gallon-size jugs.. A Christian Post piece from late 2019 outlined some of his current financial struggles: his Boeing 747 has been on blocks for two years, since the six-figure repairs that it needs are currently out of Angley's reach, financially speaking. Prayer Request Form Peter Popoff Ministries Prayer Request Form I want to Pray with you! Next to the sink: But I am trusting you, O Lord, saying, You are my God! My future is in your hands.Psalm 31:1415. Below that, on a sticky note: Whatever you touch will prosper and succeed.

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