He also stated that a gay-friendly church was a satanic cult and that its inevitable annihilation would cause a celebration in heaven. According to Duplantis, God personally told him that He wants him flying in that particular plane, presumably because the Good Lord would never expect his followers to fly Southwest. Akil Sharif Bey. Popoff falsely claimed God revealed this information to him so that Popoff could pretend to cure them through faith healing. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Back in the '70s and '80s, Swaggart was one of the most influential evangelical preachers in America. One became president, the other just became rich. A lot of that has to do with the minister's legal troubles and fall from public grace. Well, there are no guarantees. Later, Popoff's people would tell me that the church had recently moved and it was going by a new name now, too. He is popular for being a Religious Leader. He touched it and le t loose a loud stream of glossolalia, speaking in tongues, as Pentecostals do. Haggard wound up disgraced and ejected from his church. Peter Popoff was born in West Berlin, Germany in July 1946. Unfortunately for the reverend, that last part broughteverything tumbling down. As a result, some televangelists have resorted to wacky tactics to get your money. 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. For the Lord worketh in mysterious ways. On her second day on the job, opening envelopes, she counted about $30,000 in donationsin a room filled with about 20 other women doing the same job. donations. I knew about televangelists, Sanchez said. 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. How did he know? 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. [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. 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. 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. As it happens, I'd broken my left pinkie a month earlier, so my hand was in a splint. I held up my broken finger. His wife eyed me warily. And Lord, was he rich! Take a few steps and make the Devil mad!, The woman stood up, with his help, started shaking her hands, and then, as the organ and drum picked up the tempo, started shaking her hands faster. I took a bathroom break in Popoff's private lavatory, right off his office. Mark Oppenheimer is the editor-at-large at Tablet magazine. They cant be faulted for the misdeeds of Duplantis, but its important that we all exercise a little caution when choosing our religious conduit. Five adoring children. So that every little package of water contains a few molecules of holiness. Their lawyers and friends can tell them to shut up, but that makes them look guilty, and they don't feel guilty. [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. Victims were interviewed, including a married couple who charged that Popoff had taken "thousands of dollars" from them. I signed up for his mailing list. Peter Popoff Net Worth: Peter Popoff is a German American televangelist and faith healer who has a net worth of $10 million. I called and sent e-mails to Popoff's organization, People United for Christ, but nobody got back to me. I heard from a veteran Popoff-watcher that the best way to get to one of his shows was to give moneythen, if he was planning an event near where you lived, he'd send you a ticket. [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. In practice, it seems to end disproportionately in hand-tailored suits that cost as much as a down payment on a mortgage and, in more than a few cases, prison. Yeah, he died in jail. Popoff is the type of televangelist who would read 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. No credit card required. They wouldn't tell me what they earn, but Nick enjoyed telling me about the Clydesdale horses he keeps. 20 Dislike Share. His shining quote: "Consent is puberty." Right alongside our Puritan work ethic and entrepreneurial drive runs our instinctive love for the lottery. Once or twice a month he comes. I was in a hotel bed, enrobed in terry cloth, my teeth brushed, my hand aloft holding the remote. And yet, they did. This is his first article for GQ. He was tapping into something far more powerful: our desire to get something for nothing. Peter Popoffs net worth is estimated to be in excess of $12 million as of 2023. She'd sold all her belongings. After graduating from college, Popoff married his wife, Liz, and they embarked on an itinerant life, preaching the Pentecostal gospel across the country. Once, Peter Popoff was a giant among '80s televangelists, wealthy until being ruined in scandal. Credit.com wrote a blog post concerning Popoff's claims. I took your holy water and put it in my son's shoes, she said. Anyway, then he did it all again three years later and lost everything. Popoff was homeschooled after the eighth grade, so he could travel and preach with his father. Almost immediately the letters began to come. [28], Octogenarian Larry Skelton, a former organist of Popoff from 1965 to 1990, and for Peter's father before that said, "When you're praying for the sick, it's through the Holy Spirit, and there's some times that it works freely, and then there are other times when the Spirit's just not there." 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. Oh, also, he stole his wife's body from the compound after it was shut down. (Steve Martin borrowed this bit of Popoff's routine for his 1992 flick Leap of Faith, and Chevy Chase had fun at Popoff's expense in Fletch Lives.). Arthritis, they said. Like so many televangelists, Popoff had his heyday in the 1980s, back when preaching on TV was big businessand plenty mainstream. I sensed the same ambivalence when I met Larry Skelton. [17] On subsequent broadcasts, he tearfully begged for additional donations to help repair the damage. I looked like the real deal: a man in need of supernatural healing. 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. The real clincher, Sanchez said, was when they started asking for all your gold, your trinkets, your heirlooms. Angley haspreviously been accused of operating a cult where followers are taught that enough prayer can heal HIV and "childless men are encouraged to have vasectomies and Angley who preaches vehemently against the 'sin' of homosexuality is himself a gay man who personally examines the genitals of the male parishioners before and after their surgeries.". The same thing happened to him, but with a private jet instead of new kicks. In 1989, Bakker was convicted on 29 counts including mail fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy, and sentenced to 45 years in prison. His wife stuck with him, even after he was sued for allegedly going all "bad touch" on employees during mandated "quiet time.". In a roundabout way, it was true. The walls were covered with little inspirational notes. 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. On the days when the Holy Spirit didn't show up freely, you had to help it along; after all, you still needed to pass the hat. He believes in divine magic-but not at the expense of the work ethic. The night that I was healed and hugged by Peter Popoff, I saw no sign that he was using an earpiece. He absolutely claimed all of that. With his grinning California charm, charismatic preaching methods, and Mother Goosian alliterative name, Popoff was the man to see in the '80s for revival services and quick [36], In 2008, the UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom issued strong warnings to broadcasters for transmitting Popoff's material, which the regulator felt promoted his products "in such a way as to target potential susceptible and vulnerable viewers". From award-winning writing and photography to binge-ready videos to electric live events, GQ meets millions of modern men where they live, creating the moments that create conversations. I wiggled my pinkiewhich I had been able to do, anywayand he shouted, You are healed! and gave me a long, tight hug. [25] Popoff initially denied Randi's accusations and accused NBC of "[hiring] an actress to impersonate Mrs. Popoff on a doctored videotape". Peter Popoff | How Did "Profit Popoff" Succeed Even After His Scam Was Exposed? 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. Two rings through his lower lip framed his broad smile. Popoff seemed to be truly enjoying my company, but his children were uncomfortable. Because it is categorized as a parsonage. I ate an offensive linemans diet to find out, LSU professor promoted after misconduct allegations, lawsuit against accuser, PHOTOS: LSU gymnastics narrowly falls to Oklahoma. Popoff returned to his old ways, acquiring almost $4 million every year in the last part of the 1980s, as indicated by Randi. Popoff wore a natty suit and a tie knotted to the strangulation point. Why, I wondered, were so many people willing to trust a prophet of God who needed an earpiece, and why would they trust his advice on prosperity even after his own financial house had collapsed? There's plenty of behavior to throw stones at here, but the Bible takes a pretty firm stance on that. If God created man and man created the small two-way radios that Popoff and an assistant used to have secretly communicate while Popoff was performing, then hallelujah. You're in that auditorium, and you had to pay for that sucker. Popoff was born in Occupied Berlin[4][a] on July 2, 1946,[5] the son of George and Gerda Popoff. Popoff had been the boldest and baddest of televangeliststhe most don't-give-a-damn cheesy. 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. [50], The radio transmitter incident was parodied in the 1989 movie "Fletch Lives". With a whole cult. Various sources indicate Popoff was born in East Berlin or West Berlin. I was surprised when the address for the church I had found online took me to a storefront in an industrial park. He was poised for a comeback in 2009 when HBO produced a documentary on his return to the righteous path, but wouldn't you know it, more allegationsof the abusive variety popped up. And he was as mesmerizing as ever. When they see any media come by, it's a total lockdown on the facility, I had been told by Crystal Sanchez, age 33, who used to work at Popoff's headquarters. Three years later, revenues for Popoff's ministry were just over $35 million. He just got a bald eagle. 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. For a real thriller, look no further than the flagrant manipulation of religion occurring in our own state. Want to share an anonymous news tip? In the below section you will more & more information. The episode was released on video as part of a lesson in critical thinking. At a recent London gathering, GTS filmed Popoff "healing" a woman supposedly "wracked with pain", though Marshall and a colleague had previously seen herin no obvious distresshanding out pens and questionnaires to audience members. What did he make you do? Peter Popoff Biography The birth name of this Con man and televangelist is Peter Popoff. The Popoff water is Poland Spring? I asked. Like Popoff, they used the offer of a religious trinket (a free prayer cloth) to compile an address list. It's not something I snapped my fingers and it magically appeared. Every kind of sickness. His message hasn't changed, The Washington Post noted in 1998, but the audience he is aiming for has.. If you accept, as Pentecostal Christians do, that God performs miracles, on the body, soul, and bank account, then his ministry offers a series of fair exchanges between him and his audience. 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