One thing that has always disturbed me is the ease with which televangelists say God talks to them. I do not doubt that God speaks to us. But still, somehow, I have a difficult time believing that all of these good people are so close to God and are always talking to him. I wonder what they talk to God so much about since their message often contradicts the Christian God’s biblical message.

For instance, the message of Jesus is one of suffering and sacrifice; deny yourself and hold your cross (Matthew 16). He took his cross, and he expects you to carry yours. But the message of many televangelists is one of prosperity, blessings from God, and happiness now. Maybe they missed that passage in Mark 10:21, where Jesus unsuccessfully told the rich man to sell everything and to follow him. Instead, televangelists very successfully focus on victory now, covenants with God that bless the believers, power from the Holy Spirit to make miracles, routinized faith healing, wealth increases, etc. All desirable stuff, instead of the suffering and the hardship.

Many of today’s self-appointed men of God, especially televangelists, definitely talk the talk, but do they walk the walk? “By their fruits, you will know them” (Mathew 7:20). For instance, some of the fruits of the Catholic religion are the Inquisition, the Crusades, many corrupt Popes throughout history, and more recently the legion of pedophile priests that have been protected, instead of being denounced, by the Catholic Church, etc. The fruits of this church can easily be seen, although many Catholics still firmly support that church.

If the flock has been believing lies and distorted doctrines from professional deceivers, then what should they expect? If a person is not accountable for having believed and accepted lies and false information, instead of truth, who is then? But some people even blame God, when they realize they have been used and fleeced.

But what about the Protestant religion? Since Protestantism is so decentralized, it is difficult to combine everyone together, under the same label. However one thing is certain, the decline of both, Catholic and Protestant Christianity in many developed countries, including the United States. The only exception is the Pentecostal and Charismatic branches, which are rapidly growing. That sounds good until we learn that these branches are the ones to promote the power of the Holy Spirit to heal and make us rich, and all the other exciting stuff. Many of those televangelists learned their ways from the beliefs of the Pentecostal and Charismatic churches.

I believe in miracles, healing, and the probability of God intervening in our lives, but… The problem is that it often is accepted by faith alone. In most cases, it is impossible to verify if any of the miracles, signs, and gifts exhibited by anyone are real. And many naive people are easily impressed and manipulated by scam artists. In fact, the only reason these impostors exist is because people are so gullible. So any charlatan can come and fake it until they become millionaires. That is why, they emphasize the need for faith over reason, evidence, or confirmation. The only real way to identify the deceivers is by looking at their fruits. Many of their ideas are distorted doctrines and not biblical at all.

The original Christian Church behaved like a family. In contrast, the televangelists are running their ministries like businesses. There are even companies, whose sole mission is to help faith-based organizations get bigger and to make more money. They have widely adopted marketing and it is extremely important for their success. But it should have been God through the power of the Holy Spirit, who guaranteed their success. Certainly not the ways of the world. Many churches gauge their success by size and numbers and maintain a corporate mentality. Growth equals success and blessings from God. …Really?

Televangelists are marketing and selling a product. At the end of each program, they present resources to the viewers, in exchange for donations or gift offerings at set prices; for example, a book donation set at $30. Any book on Amazon.com costs half that amount, but the believers gladly pay the inflated price, which is a dream price for any book publisher. And if one of these books becomes a best-seller, the author will become a millionaire. You can recognize the better ministries because the donation for the resources is of any amount, not a set amount.

Televangelists have also conditioned people to send written prayer requests in an envelope, which usually includes donation money. They receive thousands of prayer requests with cash daily. And they remind us to tithe (10% of your income). They teach that we must give to God so he will return that seed money many times over. Of course, they are handling God’s purse and receiving and keeping the seed money and the tithes. But what about instead, giving to the poor and the needy directly? In the end, televangelists become millionaires with all those donations from suckers. The poor remains unattended. Those are the fruits of the Prosperity Gospel and the Word of Faith Movement.

A look at history can teach us something. The Roman Empire could not destroy the original Christian Church, no matter how hard they tried. The persecutions and the suffering worked as a filter, which weeded out the phony and the apostate. That only made Christ’s Church stronger. But when the Roman Emperor Constantine gave the Church riches, power, and honor, the church attracted all kinds of parasites and deadbeats. The demise of the Church was assured. A Prosperity Gospel can achieve the same results that Emperor Constantine achieved. The destruction of the Christian Church. And that, sadly, is exactly what is happening today.