TV Preachers

by Jay McMullan
© 2011

I’m not a big fan of Christian television. While there are some ministers on television that are scripturally sound, there are many more who are there for the sole purpose of taking your money.

I had never seen Jim and Tammy Bakker’s show on television until I moved to Lamar, Colorado to pastor my first church back in 1986. By that time, allegations had already been made of financial and sexual improprieties in their ministry. So each day, for one hour, Jim and Tammy and all their cronies would sit around and cry and whine about what the Charlotte Observer newspaper was saying about them that day. The rest of the time was spent trying to raise money for their ministry. By listening to them, if you didn't give your "love offering" that day, they were going to go broke but if you looked at their lavish lifestyles, they were anything but broke!

In my pastoral visits, I met a little old woman that was a huge supporter of Jim and Tammy. She gave lots of money to their ministry. Obviously, a lot of other people gave huge sums of money to their ministry too. After all, it takes huge amounts of money to have vacation homes across the country, a private jet and other amenities that are usually reserved for the rich.

Pastor Zachary Tims, who pastored New Destiny Christian Center a couple of miles from my house was recently found dead in a posh hotel in New York’s Time Square from an apparent drug overdose. An Orlando television station reported that his salary from the church was $33,000 a month! In the area of New Destiny Christian Center, there is a lot of poverty and I’m sure people in his church gave more money than they could afford to give.

Now, let me say this, I believe in giving. It is a spiritual principle spelled out in the Bible. God wants us to give so the needs of His church can be met and we are promised that He will bless us when we do give. The false teachers and prophets on television and on the Internet understand that principle too but their motivations are wrong. Remember what P.T. Barnum said? “There is a sucker born every minute.”

I was talking to a very good friend of mine once about a well known tv preacher. She thinks he is the best thing since sliced bread and I feel like he is a false prophet. She said, “Well Jay, he preaches the Word!” Of course he “preaches the Word” as he sees it. But, it always comes down to your wallet. This guy uses incredibly talented musicians, trickery and mass hypnotism in his meetings to deceive people and very good editing on his television shows. And Christians by the thousands, fall for his deception.

Luke 16:8

“,,,the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.”

I hope you don’t take this wrong but there are many Christians that are not too bright. Many of them believe what they are told without ever even checking the Bible to see if what is being said is true. I can give you several examples of things that preachers teach that are absolutely NOT scriptural but for the sake of space, won’t. Some are chronicled on my website.

Acts 17:11

Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

Even when the notorious Apostle Paul would preach to the men in Berea, they would get pumped up and excited about what they heard but, at night, they would search the scriptures to see if what Paul was saying was true and the Bible says they were “more noble” than the Thessalonians because of that. Do you search the scriptures to see if what you are being told is true?

How do we know if a minister’s motivations are right? How do we know if we should give to that ministry? First we must search the scriptures to see if they are telling the truth but we can’t stop there.

Matthew 7:16

“By their fruit you shall know them,,,”

I believe ministers should be paid and I believe they should be paid well but what we are seeing among many of these tv ministers is absolutely excessive. You cannot know the fruits of a tv minister. All you know is what you see on television or the Internet and as you know, what you see and get on the tv and Internet is not always the truth.

Where the problem lies is that, as a believer, we are commanded to tithe. As a matter of fact, if we don’t tithe, the Bible says we rob God. But, we are supposed to take that money to the “storehouse” or the place where we get out food. I believe we should be getting our spiritual food at the local church. I also believe that is where our tithe needs to go.
Recently Borders book stores announced they will be going out of business. They could not compete with Amazon and other Internet sellers. If this trend continues, we won’t be able to “run downtown” and purchase anything. We will end up having to order everything off of the Internet.

The same thing happens with Christianity. If we all get our teaching off of television or the Internet, who is going to be there when we need prayer, when our children get married or when we die? Is that television minister going to be there for you in your time of need? Don’t count on it.

Let me encourage you as a fellow believer, get involved in a local church, give to your local church, volunteer in your local church and get to know your pastor and the other ministers. When you hear a television minister talking about how God will bless you if you give into HIS ministry, realize that God will bless you just as much, if not even more, if you give into your local ministry. As long as people keep getting suckered into giving money to these television ministers, they will continue to ply their trade and live their lavish lifestyles, laughing all the way to the bank while your local church suffers.