There’s an advertisement going around for a forthcoming “Leadership Life Development Convention”. This is being run by Bible Life Ministries, a local evangelical church and will be attended by “Bishop Dr” I.V. Hilliard. This gentleman is shown in the advertisement looking very serious as he rests his theological chin on his no-doubt very spiritual fingers.
My problem is that the so-called Dr Hilliard appears to break Harriman’s 1st Law of Evaluating Preachers. This says that you shouldn’t trust a preacher who drives a better car than you do or, in this case, a preacher who wears a more expensive watch than you do.
He also breaks Harriman’s Law of Doctorates. Anyone who claims to have a doctorate when in fact they bought it from a diploma mill is a fraud. Both Hilliard and his charming wife Bridgett have honorary doctorates from Friends International University. Not even the normal dodgy degrees purchased over the internet after submitting an essay, these guys got honorary degrees, presumably after dropping some cash?
I’ll put aside my personal beliefs for a while and will willingly acknowledge that certain religious groups do provide a real sense of community to their members, they provide moral guidance and a vision of hope. Frankly I don’t believe a word of it but each to his own I suppose.
My objection is to the flagrant abuse that televangelists get up to. Hilliard and his fellow ministers like Joyce Meyer (who also has a doctorate from an unaccredited university) and Benny Hinn, who is simply stealing money from his victims, are exploiting the gullible, the naïve and the sick. Benny Hinn is my “favourite” in that I find him particularly repulsive. A series of undercover operations have exposed the way in which his teams filter out the really sick from his televised miracle healing. His financial operations are notoriously secretive although he has recently been under very close review by the US Senate Finance Committee who wonder where all the money goes that he gets from his unsuspecting and hugely credulous viewers. His public appeal for donations towards his new $36 million personal private jet just seems to summarise his approach.
In my very brief research on Fake-Dr Hilliard I found an online invitation to his wife’s 50th birthday party in 2006. OK, you might think, how sweet of him to invite people to celebrate his beautiful wife’s birthday! But not so. Firstly you had to pay him $100 to attend and then you’re asked to bring her a present. There was even a list of gift ideas that included “Monetary gifts. Designer handbags: Gucci, Chanel, Louis Vuitton. Gift Certificates: Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Escada”.
I confess I don’t know what half of those things are but the first one is just so blatant that it deserves repeating. “Monetary gifts”.
Roughly translated this means. “Pay me $100 to attend my wife’s no doubt spectacularly vulgar birthday party and bring along some cash to give her.”
As George Carlin once said about the typical evangelist’s message from God: “He loves you, and He needs money!”
This seems to be the basic message we get from the televangelists. The solution to the problems we face, whether it’s perceived family breakdown, HIV/AIDS, crime or old-fashioned social isolation, is to listen, switch off your critical faculties and to hand over the cash.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
The war that u are waging is against GOD himself not Hilliard. Look, these man of GOD are preching the gospel and thousands of people in communities are giving their lives to Christ through them and henceforth GOD is glorified. What have u ever done that has affected peoples lives yaself . . . obviously, nothing. All u need Harrisman is Jesus! bcoz during the judgement day Jesus will judge you but it will be too late. U have a chance now, to give ya life to Christ, coz Jesus loves you, no matter the fings you've said in ya article. Jesus died on the cross of calvary for ya sins . . . he died even for the things ya speeking against HIS servants, Hillard, joyce Meyer, Benni Hinn and the others. This might be ya last chance to be Born Again. You might die today, or tomorrow, next week where do u fink u will end up? Hell or heaven?
If you are planning to buy a degree, you should start thinking otherwise and should have fake diploma review before acquiring it. And for people who want to steer clear of such scams, the following are some ways in which you can do so.Fake Diploma Review
Very nice Site number one topic Thanks you..
buy a degree
I second Winston... First of all, pastors and preachers were not meant to be poor. If you knew a bit about the bible you will know that Jesus was poor so that we (Christians) should be rich. Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, Hilliard, etc are servants of God and as the priesthood its their right to be rich because their are the HEIRS of the kingdom. How come people dont complain about CEOs that have committed their lives to church but are still rich? I wouldn't trust a poor pastor personally. Would you believe a person who tells you that God wants you to be rich yet has been driving the same car for 37 years? hell no! People like Bill Gates, Oprah, Warren Buffet, etc just to name a few are people who know the secret of increase. And this secret was initiated by Abraham to God almighty.Jehovah never gave a command that we should pay tithes and offering. It was a Human initiative and this human initiative benefits those who practice it. The Oprahs of the world know that giving will come back 10 fold and that is what the church people are doing... they are doing it for the church and as much as it benefits the pastors and the preachers it benefits them as well. It is a spiritual thing... Nobody is being robbed of anything! As for the qualifications, it also comes back to giving. You give in love and it comes back in health, joy, qualification, material possessions and the list goes on. Check your theories before you start making assumptions that are based on your insecurities!
Post a Comment