Auditors come in every year. The Popoff water is Poland Spring? I asked. On December 21, Peter Popoff welcomed me into his office, where we were joined by Amy and Nick, the two children who work in the ministry (another son, Alexander, is in the military). 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. They give money; he sends them trinkets. In theory, it's a beautiful way to spread a message of faith to the masses. Its new address was just down the road, I discovered, in a strip mall. He'd been operating his businesses as tax-free nonprofits, which the IRS called bull on pretty hard. 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. A month later, they've outgrown the darned things, and you have to ask your parishioners for $54 million to buy new ones. Many would obey, tossing away bottles of digitalis, nitroglycerine, and other important maintenance medications. During a stunning sermon in 2010, Lamb admitted to having had an affair a few years earlier. It's not something I snapped my fingers and it magically appeared. I find it difficult to believe all of Duplantis followers are under a spell, though. Popoff falsely claimed God revealed this information to him so that Popoff could pretend to cure them through faith healing. They want to take the stand. Billy James Hargis ran into some trouble when two members of his congregation got married and, surprise, revealed that neither of them were virgins on account of Billy James Hargis. He touched it, and then he let loose a loud stream of glossolalia, speaking in tongues, as Pentecostals do. Like, 1,500 people followed him. When partners wouldn't donate so much money, they would cut back on staff, Sanchez said. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories. Lamb's story is a familiar one. And getting off crutches, that was big, toothis is why people needed Popoff's healing touch. Amen! He then began his television ministry that, by the early 1980s, was being broadcast nationally. Did he fear God just enough to gesture toward authenticity, so that if he was ever questioned at the pearly gates about the millions of dollars of other people's gold and silver and Social Security money, he could say that in every New Jersey-packed packet of holy water there was a minuscule amount of blessing? [16] When skeptics asked him to prove that the money he had collected had in fact been spent on Bibles and balloons, Popoff staged a burglary at his own headquarters. 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. Popoff, he said, sends his own pre-blessed water, in a 16-ounce bottle, to add to all the jugs of Poland Spring. So that's fun. If he had any plants in the audience, he didn't make good use of them. He absolutely claimed all of that. "That's what he does best. [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." We go through Poland Spring.. 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? Popoff yanked her cane away and tossed it up onstage. Peter George Popoff (born July 2, 1946) is a German-born American televangelist and debunked clairvoyant and faith healer. This is his first article for GQ. He had an answer for everything, or almost everything. Location Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States Work Helicopter Pilot @ Us Army Senior Recruiter @ Us Army Finance Manager @ Us Army Education Liberty University Once or twice a month he comes. I knew about televangelists, Sanchez said. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, thenView saved stories. He believes in divine magicto enrich you, to heal you, or just to entertain youbut not at the expense of the work ethic. Cut to the mid-'70s. CLEVELAND, October 29, 2014 - Parker Hannifin Corporation (NYSE:PH), the global leader in motion and control technologies, today announced that Peter Popoff, Vice President and President - Filtration Group, age 62, will retire effective February 1, 2015, after 36 years of dedicated service to Parker. I'm the one who pours the blessed water into the drums, said the man with the lip rings. The Bible tells us, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Jesse Duplantis tells us in his DVD, I respect the Pope, but what are you mad at me for? Animals and humans drinking from the spring were purportedly spared radiation sickness. 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. And, of course, everything came with requests for more money: REMEMBER YOU MUST SOW THE LARGEST BILL YOU HAVE OR THE LARGEST CHECK YOU CAN WRITE.. Ad Choices. Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson has given permission for his private jet to be used in the hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines' flight MH370, according to the New Zealand Herald. Skelton didn't return my calls, so one Sunday, I staked out his house in Mesquite, a hard-luck Dallas exurb. Prosperity preacher buys jet, mansion with church dollars, LSU Manship student dies in hospital after being struck by vehicle, Greek Life alumni discuss friendships after graduation: 'You have a group of friends who you can count on', Spring back into the semester: Fun events and activities for LSU students, LSU to make 121 Native American skeletal remains available for return to tribes by end of 2023, Report: Former five-star quarterback Walker Howard enters transfer portal, Opinion: Goal-setting is important for young adults, This Week In Baton Rouge: LSU Gymnastics, Involvement Fest, Yappy Hour, How much do LSU football players eat? He gets rich, you get hope. I had expected to be rebuffed. 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. Because it is categorized as a parsonage. Sanchez said that when she took the job as a donation processor, she thought she might gain new skills while serving God, too. Televangelist Jesse Duplantis and his ministry based in Destrehan, La. How old is Peter Popoff? And yet, they did. Shabalalalalalalala! he cried. The earpiece, I realized, was always an unnecessary gimmick. According to her, the network serves as a personal bank account for the Crouch family, who aren't above zany shenanigans like having their chauffeurs ordained to avoid having to pay taxes on their salaries. Wrapped in Styrofoam for buoyancy and waterproofing, the Bibles eventually washed up on Communist shores.. 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. 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." [6] As a child, Popoff emigrated with his family to the United States, where he attended Chaffey College before transferring to the University of California, Santa Barbara, from which he graduated in 1970. One became president, the other just became rich. 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. [27] Popoff's attorney, William Simon, "attributed the collapse of his ministry to financial mismanagement more than to disclosures about Popoff. They would take the stones out, take the gold to be resold. Anything that wasn't valuable was shredded. The government started taking action in the early '90s, and Tony found himself on the wrong side of the law. Five adoring children. 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. According to publicly available IRS forms, by 2003, Popoff 's new organization was netting over $9 million a year and Popoff was paying himself and his wife a combined salary of more than half a million dollars a year; their son, daughter, and son-in-law were each netting over a hundred grand. This didn't look like a house of worship; it looked like a mailing address. If I wasn't going to see a service, I still wanted to visit Popoff's office. When Susan died in 1982, Tony had her body on display for six months, with his congregants performing a constant vigil over the corpse so it would come back to life. You know, its OK to make money. When I was born, we traveled in a trailer.. Their ministry fell pretty clearly under the umbrella of "that's absolutely a cult" when it was discovered that they had followers working in a sweatshop, producing high-end denim jackets that were sold for hundreds of dollars. Prayer Request Form Peter Popoff Ministries Prayer Request Form I want to Pray with you! Peter Popoff is not the only Televangelist out there scamming people. 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. [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. He went bankrupt, he lost everything he had, he had to start over. He was hugging people, punching the air with them. The same thing happened to him, but with a private jet instead of new kicks. How is Peter Popoff not in jail or arrested? Oh, also, he stole his wife's body from the compound after it was shut down. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. Wayfair Huge Deal-A-Thon - Up to 60% off everything! The pivot has allowed Popoff to slip from the shadow of his old scandal and, in the years since, quietly rebuild his empire. You're in that auditorium, and you had to pay for that sucker. The flamboyant, seemingly pious preachers who solicited cash for enormous, if dubious, ministries were household names. 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. And since Hell (probably) doesn't exist, the only winner here is Popoff. Duplantis argued that it was the love of money, not money itself, thats bad. What followed was a House of Cards-worthy circle of blackmail that saw Gorman reinstated and Swaggart taken off the air for a spell. 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. This was a year ago, and the soft glow of cable TV was the room's only light. With a whole cult. I'll tell you where that pain went. Both men went into the family business, suffered reversals, went bankrupt, seemed destined to be TV-rerun laughingstocks. He was exposed as a fraud on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson. Hes also a chief perpetrator when it comes to unscrupulous religious practices. Falwell certainly had the resume to back up the job. Popoff was homeschooled after the eighth grade, so he could travel and preach with his father. 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 But he was also an enormous fraud who was ruined in scandal. It's been a long and winding road!. He blurred When he talked, the people in his community listened. A sixty-eight-year old German American minister, Popoffs All rights reserved. [22], Popoff was also the inspiration for a character in the 2012 thriller film Red Lights, a psychic who uses information fed to him via a hidden earpiece to persuade the audience at his shows that he is receiving personal details psychically. In fact, maybe he realized that today, more than ever, we are primed for what he has to sell. The conference room was packed with a thousand people, maybe two thousand. As a result, some televangelists have resorted to wacky tactics to get your money. I took a bathroom break in Popoff's private lavatory, right off his office. AMC is broadcasting a Peter Popoff "service" (scam session) as I type. 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. And if they don't feel better? He kept going, and now does infomercials selling his patented Miracle Manna, a guaranteed cure for, according to Popoff, basically everything. Best Match Pete W Popoff Seal Beach, CA (The Hill) AGE 80+ AGE 80+ Pete W Popoff Seal Beach, CA (The Hill) Aliases Peter W Popoff Phone Number Address Background Report Addresses As I sat with the gregarious, affable Popoff, I understood: He believes he is helping people. 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. According to him, declaring bankruptcy was a mistake, the misguided suggestion of lawyers. Quick recap: in 1973, Jim and his then-wife Tammy Bakker co-founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network, home of their program The PTL Club. Sometimes, Sanchez said, those taken in by Popoff's message would breach security. It all started in 1969 with a small ministry an hour outside Hollywood run by married couple Tony and Susan Alamo (ah-LAH-mo, but who cares). And he has risen again to make millions leading the People United for Popoff seemed to be truly enjoying my company, but his children were uncomfortable. They would stand and walk without assistance, to the joyous cheers of the faithful. Get converts, get time on the slopes, get a tax exemption. [50], The radio transmitter incident was parodied in the 1989 movie "Fletch Lives". All proof of the miracle water's efficacy. You know how it is. 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