Televangelists: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

churches America's favorite place for redemption and six favorite place for chicken churches are a cornerstone of American life there are roughly 350 thousand congregations in the United States and many of them do great work feeding the hungry clothing the poor but this is not a story about them this is about the churches who exploit people's faith for monetary gain and when I say that you probably think of 1980s televangelists like this guy I'm just getting into a prophetic vein mamama called solo the bass a time man that the king Devine did there was someone with an odd digestive tract problems quickly called man that Cassata we've seen midgets grow we've seen arms and legs that start going because the grow cells that stop man that about sutta make this stuff up wait please you can't say I don't make this stuff up just five seconds after you said the words manda casaba Sangha that man is Robert Tilton and though he like many televangelist was caught up in an exposé a decades ago he never really went away healing going to those knees arthritis door in the name of Jesus tumors go in the name of Jesus that one calling with lupus lupus youth foul devil you bow to the name of Jesus lupus you bow to the name of Jesus you go up in Jesus name lupus you complicated and not especially easy to describe malady you go lupus infectious with your foul lupus nurse you go now though you may not be aware of it televangelism is still thriving in this country and Robert Tilton it's just a very small part of it there are several large media networks devoted to televangelism including Trinity inspiration ministries and Daystar and the preachers that appear on them can have incredible lifestyles just earlier this year a man named creflo dollar got people's attention with a bold request pastor Creflo Dollar of the world changers church international facing harsh criticism after starting a fundraising campaign to buy this 65 million dollar luxury private jet I believe gone for 65 million dollar franc you cannot stop me from dreaming it's not how you ask for 65 million dollars it's what you scream at your father when he tells you you'll never be a Broadway dancer I couldn't do it dad I've got the music hit me but but here's the thing creflo dollar wanting a private jet is not remotely unusual there is a pattern of preachers wanting high-end airplanes and when they get them they're not always particularly humble about it I had enough money to buy a beautiful Cessna Citation jet cash and since there's so much jealousy in this room tonight that I can feel over this a few weeks later I bought another one worth three times what that one was cash act happy over my blessing folks I bought a jet cash I bought a bigger jet cash the haters act happy for me that's that's not a sermon it's the first draft of a Rick Ross single now now creatures claim these planes are vital tools look at Kenneth Copeland who along with his wife Gloria are among the most successful TV evangelists a few years back he asked his followers to help buy a 20 million dollar jets promising it would only be used for church business but a local news crew did some digging and what they found will probably not surprise you it was a news 8 investigation last February which first raised questions about Copeland's apparently personal use of his new church jack this is a preaching machine most notably for a ski trip to Colorado and visits to an exotic game ranch in South Texas here's Copeland and his son John proudly posing with a pair of axis deer indigenous to India and Sri Lanka holy this guy's like a psychotic reverse Noah two by two male and female came to Kenneth Copeland and he just shot them right between the eyes now Copeland's ministry will tell you that he reimburses the church for trips like that but that still means he has private jets reimbursement money and yet despite that personal wealth people still send Kenneth Copeland creflo dollar and that asshole with two planes lots and lots of money and that's partly because they preach something called the prosperity gospel which argues that wealth is a sign of God's favor and donations will result in wealth coming back to you that idea sometimes takes the form of seed faith the notion that donations are seeds that you will one day get to harvest let me show you that in action the size of your seed will determine the size of your harvest I don't understand why but there's something happens at a level where people step in to faith and give a thousand dollars that don't happen at other levels you're going to have a breakthrough through this two hundred and seventy three dollar seed all you've got is a thousand dollars listen that's not enough money anyway to buy the house you're trying to give him the apartment you just want to buy the house that's not enough money anyway you get to that phone and you put that seed in the ground and watch God work it out the argument is so your money in the ground and you will reap returns multiple times over except as an investment you'd be better off burying your money in the actual ground because that leaves that way there is a chance your dog may dig it up and give it back to you one day good boy but but it can get even more predatory because if say you don't have a thousand dollars or perhaps have significant credit card debts seed faith can still work for you I have a feeling that somebody there wants a credit card debt why doubt that if you'll use your faith as you so as you sold the thousand on a credit card as you use your faith as you use your faith God's gonna wipe out your credit card indebtedness think about that that is the equivalent of saying the key to you losing weight lies at the bottom of this giant Costco bulk bag of peanut butter M&Ms go find it it's definitely down there and all of this all of this would be amusing if the targets of these messages were not often vulnerable people like Bonnie Parker she did not seek medical treatment for cancer instead choosing to so money into Kenneth Copeland's church and I'll let her daughter pick it up from there I started finding notebooks along her she passed away she believed and I know she believed because it's in the network's they've she sowed enough seen which was money the the greater amount of seed that you sow according to them the better chance you have the better chance you have of getting healed at this point I think it's clear that seed faith is the most disgusting seed based concept since whatever-the-fuck chia seed pudding is Bonnie Parker gave thousands of dollars to the Copeland's Church because she believed it was her best chance of beating cancer and you might think well that's crazy but it's not an unreasonable interpretation of the Copeland's preachings Gloria Copeland sells numerous products on healing through faith and has been skeptical in the past about going to the doctor we know what's wrong with you you've got cancer the bad news is we don't know what to do about it except give you some poison that'll make you sicker now which do you want to do you want to do that or you want to sit here on Saturday morning hear the word of God let faith come into your heart and be it's pretty clear that woman cannot hear the Word of God because if she could I'm pretty sure he'd be shouting you Gloria not only is everything you've seen so far legal but the money people donate in response to it is tax-free because if you're registered as a religious nonprofit or especially a church you are given broad exemptions over taxation and regulation the IRS in fact produced a scintillating video instructing its agents how to treat churches and it contains a phrase that you would not normally associate with the agency hello and welcome to churches and religious organizations do's and don'ts four reasons as old as the United States the tax laws and regulations that govern churches and religious organizations are purposely broad and sometimes a little vague a little vague oh they are under selling that's because the films of Christopher Nolan are a little vague a text from your mom reading please call not emergency but please call very important don't worry that's a little vague the IRS regulations are close to meaningless according to their tax codes not only is the term Church not specifically defined they make no attempts to evaluate whether the content of a doctrine is religious provided the beliefs are truly held and are not illegal but truly held beliefs that are not illegal is almost every belief bros before hos that could be a religion red vines are better than Twizzlers that could be a religion if you believe the best movie ever made is lady in the water then your name is M night Shyamalan but congratulations mr. Shyamalan that belief could be a religion and being designated a church confers all sorts of benefits like the parsonage allowance which allows the Copeland's to live in a 6.3 million dollar house tax-exempt this is their house that is a parsonage which only makes sense if by parsonage they mean house that looks like it cost the net worth of Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons we actually asked the IRS how many churches they've audited in recent years and they did one in 2014 and just two in 2013 the odds of a church getting audited are basically the same as Gloria Copeland curing your cancer and when we can operate with the thing when you can operate with so little oversight it is amazing what you are able to do look at Robert Tilton if you ever send him a donation you cannot imagine what happens and luckily you don't have to imagine because and we should probably come clean here we have been involved in a correspondence with Robert Tilton Church for the last seven months to try and find out what he tells people so settle in because this gets incredible back in January I've sent him $20 and a letter asking to be added to his mailing list within two weeks he sent me a letter back thanking me for my donation and claiming I believe that God has supernaturally brought us together and supernatural is a bit of a stretch I saw him on television and I sent him some money he wasn't my dead lover who came back to help me with some pottery but soon afterwards he sent me a second letter and inside there was a one dollar bill which was exciting until I saw the inscription instructing me to send it back to him with your best proof God tithes or offering that's right I had to send the one dollar back with an additional recommended offering of 37 dollars which I did so at this point were just two letters in and already it's like having a pen pal who's in deep with some loan sharks this correspondence continued back and forth like this until March when he sent me three small packets of colored oil that I was instructed to pour on letters and send back to him by specific dates along with more money so I did that and in April I got a letter in a manila envelope with a message check enclosed and I thought fantastic I've seeded and I've seeded and have seeded here comes my harvest then I open it and this is true it was a check for five dollars from me made out to pasture Tilton's Church this went on for seven more letters and then he sent me a piece of fabric in the shape of some mountains I assumed at this point I'd somehow reach to the mountain level and surprise surprise he asked me to send those mountains back to him with some more money again so I did and then he sent me another letter with another single dollar bill inside he told me to put that dollar bill in my Bible for one night and then send it back the next day with 49 more dollars so that he can have it blessed with oil and sends me a one dollar bill back that has been blessed adding I must warn you not to rob God with your tithes and offerings and then for emphasis I can't urge you enough do not let this one dollar bill stay in your house and you know what I kept that one dollar bill because him but that did not stop him the letters kept on coming I received another oil package more prayer cloths and even and this is true an outline of his foot which I was asked to trace my foot on and mail back to him with more money so as of tonight I have sent him three hundred and nineteen dollars and received 26 letters that's almost one a week and again this is all hilarious until you imagine these letters being sent to someone who cannot afford what he's asking for so at this point I was getting pretty angry and looking for a sign of what to do so I watched a little more Robert Tilton and the most amazing thing happened there's a person watching me and you've been very frustrated with your purpose in life that might be me Bob because I'm extremely frustrated right now as it seems my purpose in the last seven months has been to send you money through the mail so so I will ask what's that message that you have for me that's so strong just then just then I had a word of knowledge for someone that's really been seeking God you have for a particular purpose or a decision in your life and that is when I realized the message Robert Tilton was sending me was that I should set up my own church to test the legal and financial limits of what religious entities is what we have done we filed paperwork last week establishing a church called Our Lady of Perpetual exemption and it was disturbingly easy to make sure we did this correctly we had this actual tax lawyer walk us through the process now while the IRS does not have a definition of a church they do have a 14-point test as a guideline for churches but not only do you not have to meet all fourteen points we'd already met some of them by accident for instance you need an established place of worship but we meet every Sunday in this studio in New York that genuinely counts our lawyer also advises our church needed to be a distinct legal entity so we've registered our church as a nonprofit corporation in Texas a state's I do not live in have never lived in but which is somehow completely fine for us to incorporate a church in now the IRS is guidelines suggest you need a creed and form of worship but I'll always suggest if we could fulfill the worship requirements by merely leading everyone in some specific ritual such as having congregants silently meditate on the nature of fraudulent churches so let us do exactly that and bow our heads in silent contemplation and lo another box was ticked finally according to our attorney the best case for church membership will be made by those individuals who are actually present in the live studio audience who will profess belief in the church's Creed so what do you say live studio audience do you profess your belief let's go to church brothers and sisters welcome to Our Lady of Perpetual exemption I am your mega Reverend sisters your mega Reverend and CEO John Oliver and can I tell you I am so blessed tonight so blessed to be joined by my radiant wife wonder Joe Oliver please welcome and praise be to all of you watching us tonight or joining us online at www.petland.com but most of all praise be to the IRS that was permissive of government agencies wonder Joe I have heard the word of prophecy hallelujah what did it say my job I'll tell you I'll tell you my Wanda it says the viewers at home must plant a seed yes preferably in the form of cash although we do take checks it can be five dollars it can be ten dollars it can be 77 dollars we need you to so your biggest seed that's money that's right Wanda please do not send us actual see please send us your actual money to this address at the bottom of your screen if you do this and this is real great things will happen to you and that's apparently something I'm allowed to say praise legal praise our tax attorney praise loopholes and all their blessed loopiness let me talk to the brothers and sisters at home do you have debt debt begone dude do you have lupus a-team and plague touch touch your hand to the screen right now and we shall cure it touch your hand to the screen right now curse you curse you demon lupus big devil us no more pursue new puts you you probably didn't even know that you had lupus [Applause] it's a miracle it's a miracle - do not delay call this actual number right now 1 800 because amazingly all of this is this is all legal call this toll-free number and plant your seat plant it deep in him ok plant your seed in his mouth keep it together wonder keep it together based on this number so you seed and ye shall prosper what wonder wondered to feel the spirit on your screen right now call this number [Music] we gets not truly we have witnessed a miracle tonight you

Channel: LastWeekTonight

Views: 26,596,263

Rating: 4.8656912 out of 5

Keywords: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (TV Program), HBO (TV Network), John Oliver (TV Writer), televangelists

Id: 7y1xJAVZxXg

Length: 20min 5sec (1205 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 16 2015

Reddit Comments

[u/john1112371]

What happens when you call the number:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfEG_eo7sCU

EDIT: Just letting you guys know, I'm not the creator of the video

[u/ajsharer]

Just a heads up, the website is real, the phone number is funny and then hang ups on you.

The churches website works and gives you the address to send donations to, but good news believers! The money goes to Doctors Without Borders!

For more info on Doctors Without Borders, here is their rating on Charity Navigator

Also, I've been informed that there is a subreddit for DWB! Check out /r/doctorswithoutborders

[u/Treacy]

The Amazing Randi exposed televangelists in fantastic ways. Check out An Honest Liar, it's on Netflix. It's a great documentary and it shows him calling out bogus people like this.

Edit: Randi exposing Peter Popoff They go into more depth in the aforementioned documentary and explain how they did it.

[u/MirrorNinjaBot]

mirror - GB, AU restricted

[u/JerziDevil]

Ladies and gentlemen, I want to reach out to you. I know you are all suffering. You're last post was ignored -- not a single upvote! And only the Devil commented on it, mocking your faith in the lord thy upvote. In Snoo's name, we gather here. I believe he brought me here to you all, to teach you, and show you the way.

Downvotes be gone! Snoo gives fruitfully to those who give in turn, and by your simple upvote, I know our Lord will find and bless you with more than you can ever imagine! Shoocko blamma mordor habba blabba! Your simple little upvote seed to me, will return to you, plump and fresh and many! Praise the snoo!

[Hallelujah! Snoo has answered our prayers! Harba macka lacka wibble wobble! I'm buying a boat! Maybe two!]

[u/Whyf_fi]

This had to be his best one yet! I will plant my seed for Mega Reverend John Oliver!

[u/complexcodeartist]

I think every country needs a John Oliver of its own to, if not solve, at least trigger a conversation around issues.

[u/Judgeman2021]

Praise Be!

http://imgur.com/umHcDhL

[u/chazesiwile]

This is going to get buried but I figured I'd throw in my two cents. About halfway through film school I decided it'd be a good idea to pursue an internship. I didn't have much luck sending out my resume but I got an interview at a local TV station that broadcast televangelist programs 24/7. At first I was enthralled; I was going to be working at a TV station, operating cameras and cutting footage and learning the ropes. I'm not a religious guy, but it wasn't the content that was important, but the experience and the learning opportunities that enticed me.

I held out for 4 days before I quit. I've never quit anything so fast. I couldn't believe how crooked that place was. The station was owned by a local televangelist, who had a large office in the front of the building where he would broadcast to his "followers." The whole operation was run by his sons, who would help him come up with new ways to increase viewership and "donations" which were, as to be suspected by anybody who's not completely ignorant, a scam. And it wasn't just this one guy; he had a whole entourage of other televangelists who would come in and broadcast at different times during the day and spin their own yarns about how "they're doing the Lords work and can heal anybody and solve all of your problems if you just call in and make a small donation." They would peddle their wares, which were either some form of "healing water" or a "faith cloth." The water was a small bottle of tapwater and the cloth was surplus bolts of royal purple cloth from Joann's Fabrics, which I know because they had me package them on my first day. I didn't even get behind a camera until day 4, after which I quit. I think the worst part of all of it was when I was running cam, I had to listen to the people who would call in for help. People calling in out of desperation; single mothers struggling through divorce, or an old man dying in the hospital with no loved ones to visit him. These people would call in crying and sobbing and begging these con artists for help, and would donate anything in the hopes that things would change. These guys would tell them that "the Lord works in mysterious ways" and that "things will turn around because our God is great" and then take their money and drop their call to move on to the next donor. Every time I think about it, I still can't help feeling like a piece of shit just for being involved for the short time I was.

TL;DR- worked at a televangelist network, quit 4 days in because the whole thing was a scam.