The Bible shows us the children of God sinning greatly. God sent HIS prophet, Jeremiah, to show them their sin and to try to get them to turn back to God. They put the prophet into a pit of mire because of the message, and left him there to die. But God raised up a man to pull Jeremiah out of that pit.
If you will read the entire book of Jeremiah you can see a lesson in the way God brings the fall of individuals and nations when they will not see the truth.
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Jeremiah 1 (God sets up a prophet who will bring judgment to the people.)
4 Then the word of the Lord came unto me (to Jeremiah), saying,
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
6 Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
7 But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
9 Then the Lord put forth HIS hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put MY words in thy mouth.
10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.
(Often the prophet has to tear down what has been built before he is able to construct a new concept in a person.)
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Then God sends the prophet to give HIS message to the children of Israel who are doing evil things, worshiping other gods:
God is going to raise up the king of Babylon against Jerusalem because the women of Jerusalem have been burning incense to other gods on the roof tops of Jerusalem. The men of Jerusalem are also sinning against God.
The people of God will be taken captive and taken into bondage as servants. God has ordained 70 years of captivity in Babylon for them because of their sins.
The king of Judah, Zedekiah, will see his sons slain before his eyes by the Babylonians.
Then they will put out Zedekiah's eyes and put him in chains and take him to Babylon where he will be kept until his death.
And the king of Babylon orders the wall destroyed at Jerusalem and the great houses burnt with fire in Jerusalem.
All this is set up by God for them because of their sins against God.
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Jeremiah 44 (This chapter tells of the sins committed in Jerusalem before they were taken into captivity into Babylon.)
Some of the people fled from Jerusalem to Egypt to keep from being taken captive into Babylon even after God told them not to go down into Egypt. God would simply destroy them in Egypt for God has sentenced the Babylon captivity for a season of 70-years.
1 The
word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the
land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and
in the country of Pathros, saying,
2 Thus saith the Lord
of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have
brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold,
this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein,
3 Because
of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke ME to anger,
in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they
knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers.
4 Howbeit
I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending
them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.
5 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods.
6 Wherefore MY fury and MINE anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities
of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and
desolate, as at this day.
desolate: empty; deserted of people and in a state of bleak and dismal emptiness; misery, unhappiness, or loneliness; abandoned
7 Therefore now thus saith the Lord,
the God of hosts, the God of Israel; Wherefore commit ye this great
evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and
suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain;
8 In
that ye provoke ME unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning
incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to
dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse
and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
9 Have
ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the
kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own
wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed
in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?
10 They
are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor
walked in MY law, nor in MY statutes, that I set before you and before
your fathers.
11 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set MY face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah.
(Do you realize God can set HIS face against HIS people if they fail to please HIM and if they are puffed up and fail to humble themselves.)
God says:
12 And
I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into
the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and
fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and
by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by
the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an
astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.
(God pronounced a sentence upon Judah because of their wickedness which they performed in Jerusalem by offering sacrifices to the queen of the heaven from the rooftops of Jerusalem. Some tried to escape the captivity of Babylon by going into Egypt, which God told them not to do. God told them to go into the captivity of Babylon which HE sent upon them. But they tried to escape God's sentence.)
God says to them who went into Egypt though HE told them not to do this.
13 For
I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished
Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:
14 So
that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of
Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return
into the land of Judah, to the which they have a desire to return to
dwell there: for none shall return but such as shall escape.
15 Then
all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other
gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the
people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah,
saying,
16 As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee.
💥17 But
we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth,
to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink
offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and
our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem:
for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.
18 But
since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour
out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been
consumed by the sword and by the famine.
19 And
when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink
offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out
drink offerings unto her, without our men?
20 Then
Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to
all the people which had given him that answer, saying,
21 The
incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of
Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the
people of the land, did not the Lord remember them, and came it not into HIS mind?
22 So that the Lord
could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because
of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land a
desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as
at this day.
💥23 Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against the Lord, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, nor walked in HIS law, nor in HIS statutes, nor in HIS testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day.
24 Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the Lord, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt:
25 Thus saith the Lord
of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; Ye and your wives have both spoken
with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely
perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of
heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her: ye will surely
accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows.
26 Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by MY great name, saith the Lord, that MY name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord God liveth.
(For God told them not to go down to Egypt but to submit themselves to captivity in Babylon for it was HIS penalty assigned for the sins they had committed. But they did not do so and fled to Egypt to try to escape what God was bringing because of their sins.)
💥27 Behold,
I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of
Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and
by the famine, until there be an end of them.
(Today God can watch over us for evil and not for good if we refuse HIS Word and go in our own way and have no appropriate fear of God in the matter at hand.)
28 Yet
a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of
Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are
gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words
shall stand,
MINE, or their's.
29 And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the Lord, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that MY words shall surely stand against you for evil:
30 Thus saith the Lord;
Behold, I will give Pharaohhophra king of Egypt into the hand of his
enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave
Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.
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The fall of Robert Tilton and his destruction for "killing" a prophet.
(Comments by Joan Boney)
From approximately 1976-1982, I attended Word of Faith Church in Farmers Branch, Texas, where Robert Tilton was pastor.
When I began attending this church, we met in an old warehouse and had approximately 200 members. When I left we met in an 8,000 seat building with upscale TV and radio studios throughout the new church building.
(Bigness does not mean greatness. If we did evil to get big, we will fall by God's hand in the time of God's judgment. God will raise up an adversary against us and bring upon us HIS evil to judge what we have done)
***
One Sunday morning from the pulpit, Bob announced to us (when we were meeting in the warehouse and only about 200 people) that he planned to be bigger than Kenneth Copeland.
(I didn't know much at that period of time, but even I knew what Bob had said about planning to be greater than Kenneth Copeland was a sin.)
(Bob set himself up for a fall but before the fall had to come greatness.)
Galatians 5
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations: to try to outdo another person; to get ahead of another; wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
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Bob Tilton first started a radio broadcast in the Dallas area. Then he began TV.
Ava Pickard, was a woman who worked in the office at Word of Faith and was said to be in the ministry office of a prophet,
Bob invited Ava to be a guest speaker on his TV show, "Success in Life".
Ava called me after the show and she was crying. She said just before going on camera, Bob said to her, "Just one thing Ava. Don't say anything about being a prophet because it's not popular."
I saw immediately that by doing this Bob killed a prophet, keeping her from speaking.
And I was reminded of the following scripture spoken by Jesus:
Matthew 23
25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see ME henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
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I knew Bob's house was going to be left unto him desolate for what he did to Ava in keeping her from mentioning being a prophet, thus killing a prophet by keeping that prophet from speaking.
After the resurrection, Jesus gave to the churches of the New Testament, the following ministries:
Ephesians 4:8-12
8 Wherefore Jesus saith, When HE ascended up on high, HE led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 11 And HE gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
I made a cassette tape for Bob and took it to the church office and they gave it to him: I told him that because he stopped Ava from saying anything about being a prophet, he had "killed" a prophet, dishonoring the ministry office of a prophet.
Therefore his house would be left to him desolate (empty) ... Matthew 23:38
Listening to the tape were Bob, his first wife Marte, and several of the office staff.
After hearing the tape, they cut the tape into little pieces dropping those pieces into a wastebasket and they marched around the waste basket quoting various scriptures to stop the message from God from happening. (At Word of Faith church they thought they had such powers.)
I asked the woman from the church office, who witnessed this, if Bob heard the message. She said, "Oh yes. He heard it." I replied, "That is all that is needed."
I knew he would never be able to stop a message from God and he would never forget that message.
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The poison gas dream:
God gave me the following dream to get me to leave Bob's church group.
In the dream: Destruction was everywhere. Some people were meeting in an hotel. I went into the room. A man was speaking. I sat down and began to listen.
A second man rushed into the room and said: "Stop... can't you see ... it's too late ... It's already begun."
(He disappeared and the first man resumed speaking. No one seemed interested in seeing what had begun ... but I was interested ... so I looked out the widow.)
I was very shocked at what I saw.
There was a tall pole with a yellow civil defense type speaker on top of that pole. It was set there to warn the people. But out of the speaker was coming a white gas that I knew was poison and it would kill the people ... and the gas was drifting through the air directly toward those of us who were sitting in that room. I knew it would kill us if we continued listening. The shocking thing is the device set to warn us would be the instrument used to kill us.
I looked at the man who was sitting next to me. He had a big smile on his face and was very attentively listening to the man who was speaking. Then I saw it: This man was dead though he seemed alive. He was already a corpse. Then I looked at the other people in the room and saw they were all dead.
***
On a Wednesday night, I went to the church gathering at Word of Faith. Bob Tilton was speaking. I looked at the man sitting next to me and was very shocked. HE WAS THE MAN IN THE POISON GAS DREAM.
I looked at the other people in the room and they seemed to be the other people in that dream.
I got up immediately and went to the outer room at the church and began praying.
I said, "God ... I think YOU are showing me to leave this church so I am going to get in my car and drive away ... But if YOU want me to return, I will turn and come back." God didn't want me to return!
I never went back again to Word of Faith.
I moved to Clovis, New Mexico, USA, where my mother lived. My dad had died and I felt she might need help.
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Ten years later a huge scandal concerning Bob Tilton was aired on ABC Prime Time Live and later published in Wikipedia ... It would be the beginning of the desolation God had ordained and God would bring about because Robert Tilton had "killed" a prophet in the early 1980's.
(Excerpts from Wikipedia)
Robert Tilton an American televangelist and the former pastor of the Word of Faith Family Church in Farmers Branch, Texas, a suburb of Dallas.
At his ministry's peak in 1991, Tilton's infomercial-style TV program, Success-N-Life,
aired in all 235 American television markets (on a daily basis in the
majority of them) and brought in nearly $80 million per year; it was
described as "the fastest growing television ministry in America."
When ABC's "Primetime Live" raised questions about Tilton's fundraising practices, a series of investigations into the ministry were initiated, and Success-N-Life was taken off the air. Tilton later returned to television on a new version of the program airing on BET and The Word Network.
(ABC reported finding Robert Tilton was asking people to send prayer requests to his church in Texas. Then the unopened envelopes which contained prayer requests were sent from the church in Texas directly to Tilton's banks in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the envelopes were opened by bank staff and checks were deposited in Tilton's bank account and the "prayer requests" were thrown by bank staff into the garbage dumpsters outside the Oklahoma bank.)
Tilton, with the help of a US $1.3 million loan from Dallas banker Herman Beebe, revamped Daystar into an hour-long "religious infomercial" with the title Success-N-Life.
Success-N-Life
On Success-N-Life, Tilton regularly taught that all of life's trials, especially poverty, were a result of sin.
His message consisted mainly of impressing upon viewers the importance
of making "vows"—financial commitments to Tilton's ministry.
His
preferred vow, stressed frequently on his broadcasts, was $1,000.
Occasionally, Tilton would claim to have received a word of knowledge
for someone to give a vow of $5,000 or even $10,000.
"Word of Knowledge" is a true spiritual gift from God. I Corinthians 12:8
I have often heard a word of knowledge from God to benefit a church person. I've never heard to tell anyone to give me money.
I've often had a word of knowledge showing someone in the congregation is committing a sin and must turn from sin. I have heard words of knowledge where someone had a physical problem and would be healed. I've even heard a word of knowledge where a 44-year-old man with ALS was going to die but his salvation was secure. He died about 2 days later. I sent the information to his wife and children that God had shown me David belonged to HIM and was saved and fine.
I've never before heard of anyone using word of knowledge telling another person to give money to a minister. I believe this to be extortion. Because it implies you will be blessed if you give to a specific minister but cursed if you fail to give. And it is a type of wringing money out of something through fear.
extortion: the practice of obtaining something, especially money through force or threats.
See: I Corinthians 5:11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
(from Wikipedia)
When a person made
a financial vow, Tilton, preached that God would recognize the vow and
reward the donor with vast material riches,
***
(Comments by Joan Boney)
As a result of Tilton's television success, Word of Faith Family Church grew from 200 when I first attended in 1977, to become a megachurch, with 8,000 members at its height.
But hanging over Robert Tilton was the sentence from God that because Tilton had "killed" a prophet Tilton's house would be left unto him "desolate."
God has HIS own instruments of destruction which accomplish HIS purposes when HE judges wrong doers.
One of those destructions was about to surface concerning an expose which aired on ABC Primetime Live on November 21, 1991.
***
I, Joan Boney, had been removed from Tilton's church by God by a dream approximately 10 years earlier. So I did not have to see what was happening during that period of greatness which was instigated through Robert Tilton's works prior to the great fall. I'm so glad I was spared seeing those things that happened.
* Bob and Marty divorced.
* Bob married a second time, committing adultery according to scripture: they divorced and Bob married a 3rd wife.
Matthew 5:32 Jesus says: 32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away (divorce) his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
Mark 10 Jesus says: 11 And HE saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.
12 And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.
***
* Members of Robert Tilton's church began suing Tilton for fraud and extortion.
Their lawsuits caused them to go against Bible for in I Corinthians 6 the apostle Paul says: 6 But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. 7 Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?
(I once heard this word concerning corrupt ministers: "They and their followers will die.")
It is such a shame for the church to act this way before the unbelievers of this world.
My dad often said: "If you go to eat at a cafe and the food is bad. Just pay the bill and leave the restaurant and don't go back."
Good advice: Don't sin because they sin. Suffer the loss but leave and don't go back. Go forward in God's goodness and avoid evil.
***
My mother and dad visited me in Dallas and went with me to Tilton's church once. (A greeter got their name and address.)
Later I was visiting them and in the mail Tilton had sent a flyer asking for money.
I put my name on the envelope and sent it to Tilton and put the flyer in the envelope with a note saying: "Bob ... these are my mom and dad. Joan Boney"
(Immediately their names were removed from the mailing list at Tilton's Church by someone for I was well known there.)
***
Some minister tried to start a "Christian Soap Opera" on his radio or TV broadcast.
My longtime secretary, Peggy Goodgame, was horrified and sent a letter of rebuke to this minister.
The minister put Peggy on his mailing list and she had a terrible time getting them to remove her name and she received many fund raising requests for the Christian soap opera.
***
Judgment comes:
Ministry and fundraising scandal:
In 1991, ABC News conducted an investigation of Tilton (as well as two other Dallas-area televangelists, WV Grant and Larry Lea).
The investigation broadcast on ABC's Primetime Live on November 21, 1991, alleged that Tilton's ministry threw away prayer
requests without reading them, keeping only the accompanying money or
valuables sent to the ministry by viewers, garnering his ministry an
estimated US $80 million a year.
Allegations of exploitation of vulnerable people
Curious about the pervasiveness of
the problem, The Trinity Foundation got on the mailing lists of several
televangelists, including Tilton, and started keeping records of the
many types of solicitations they received almost daily from various
ministries.
Undercover investigation
In a November 21, 1991, promotional appearance on Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, Diane Sawyer said that she had incidentally watched several televangelist programs, including Success-N-Life,
and was both "fascinated" and "disturbed" by them.
Stressing the
public's sensitivity to reporters questioning religion, Sawyer said that
she spoke with other journalists, and then eventually to ABC producers,
who then decided to conduct their own investigation into Grant, Lea,
and Tilton.
1991 Primetime Live TV documentary: "The Apple of God's Eye"
The Trinity Foundation started digging through dumpsters
outside Tilton's many banks in the Tulsa, Oklahoma, area as well as dumpsters
outside the office of Tilton's lawyer, J. C. Joyce (also based in
Tulsa).
Over the next thirty days, Trinity's investigators found tens of thousands of discarded prayer requests, bank statements,
computer printouts containing the coding for how Tilton's "personalized"
letters were generated, and more, all of which were shown in detail on
the Tilton segment within the Primetime Live broadcast, titled "The Apple of God's Eye".
In a follow-up broadcast on November 28, 1991, Diane Sawyer said that Trinity and Primetime Live assistants found prayer requests in bank dumpsters on fourteen separate occasions in a thirty day period.
Further revelations:
Primetime Live's
original investigation and subsequent updates included interviews with
several former Tilton employees and acquaintances.
Tilton had a computer installed in July 1989 to make sure the
operators talked to no caller for longer than seven minutes. A former
employee also revealed very specific instructions were given to them in
terms of how to talk with callers and they were told to always ask for a
$100 "vow" at a minimum.
Government involvement:
Despite
Tilton's repeated denials of misconduct, the State of Texas and the
federal government became involved in subsequent investigations, finding
more causes for concern about Tilton's financial status with each new
revelation.
Nearly 10,000 pounds of prayer requests and letters to
the Tilton ministry were found in a disposal bin at a Tulsa, Oklahoma, area
recycling firm in February 1992, (while Tiltons church was in Dallas, Texas, and the envelopes were addressed to Texas.)
As each revelation became increasingly more damaging, viewership and donations declined dramatically. The last episode of Success-N-Life
aired nationally on October 30, 1993. By that time, viewership had
fallen 85 percent and monthly donations went from $8 million to $2
million.
(JB: Two-million-dollars is still a lot of money!)
Failed libel action
In 1992, Tilton sued ABC for libel because of its investigation and report, but the case was dismissed in 1993.
Tilton sued for fraud: (by members of church doners)
Several
donors to Tilton's television ministry sued Tilton in 1992–1993,
charging various forms of fraud.
The fraud cases continued until the Texas Supreme Court
eventually ruled that the plaintiffs could not prove damages because
they could not show that, if Tilton had actually prayed over the prayer
requests, the prayers would have been answered.
The decline of Success-N-Life also led to the end of
Tilton's 25-year marriage to his wife Marte, who had been administrative
head of the Word of Faith Family Church and World Outreach Center, in
1993.
Marte (Tilton's first wife) intervened in Tilton's second divorce from Leigh Valentine, who
had asked the court to include the church and all its assets as
community property in the proceedings. Under Texas law, property
accumulated during a marriage is considered community property and thus
subject to division between the parties in a divorce. The jury
eventually ruled against the request.
Lexington Academy
Lexington
Academy was a small private Christian school in Farmers Branch that was
founded in the early 1980s by Robert and Marte Tilton. The school was dissolved in 1998 as a result of debts incurred from lawsuits against Tilton and his ministry.
Reviving Success-N-Life
After moving to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1996, Tilton returned to the airwaves in 1997 with a new version of Success-N-Life, buying airtime on independent television stations primarily serving inner city areas. The new version of Success-N-Life
returned to Tilton's previous message of asking for "vows of faith"
from viewers instead (seeking) of exorcisms. In 1998, the program began airing on Black Entertainment Television (BET) as part of its two-hour late night umbrella rotation block of religious programming entitled BET Inspiration.
In 2008, Success-N-Life usually occupied the first hour of the BET programming block and also ran on The Word Network. Most of the shown on BET Inspiration were taped in the late 1990s—with testimonials from 1980s-era episodes interspersed throughout the episodes— but
Tilton also recorded infomercials for his books at least once a year
from 2003 to 2007, often appearing with his third wife, Maria Rodriguez,
and their four French poodles.
The Word of Faith Family Church and World Outreach Center was
finally formally dissolved by Tilton in 1996. Though Tilton was still
listed as the church's senior pastor, he had not preached at the church
since March 16, 1996, when he named Chattanooga, Tennessee, minister Bob Wright as senior associate pastor, and its membership had declined to less than 300. (Almost back to the membership number when I first attended this church in 1979. Joan Boney)
The church building in Farmers Branch, Texas, was purchased by the city of Farmers Branch in 1999
for use as a future civic center; however, the economy suffered a
downturn and the plans were scrapped, and the building was finally
demolished in 2003 to make room for a new Dallas Stars-sponsored youth hockey center.
(no evidence a church ever stood at the location)
In March 2005, Tilton started a new church in Hallandale, Florida, not far from his home in Miami Beach. The church had already existed for some time under the pastorship of former televangelist David Epley.
Tilton's new church, now called "Christ the Good Shepherd Worldwide
Church", had approximately 200 members in 2007.
On May 13, 2007, the
church moved into a new location in Miami
and was officially renamed "Word of Faith Church", much like the
original church in Dallas.
Tilton also established a church in Las Vegas, Nevada,
in 2005, also originally named Christ the Good Shepherd Worldwide
Church. It has also been officially renamed "Word of Faith Church". The
Las Vegas church's resident pastor is Natalie Vafai.
Current ministry:
When
Tilton returned to television in 1997, he established his ministry's
headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where his lawyer J. C. Joyce's offices were
located, and set up a post office box
as its mailing address.
A woman employed by Mail Services, Inc., a
Tulsa-area clearinghouse that handled mail sent to Tilton's ministry,
said that when she worked for Mail Services, Inc. in 2001, prayer
requests were still routinely thrown away (by staff) after donations and pledges
were removed.
In
January 2014, he was holding services at the Courtyard Marriott in Culver City, California, while having donations again sent to a post office box in Tulsa.
In 1998, The Washington Post
reported that Tilton's following disappeared after the investigations
but he had "joined dozens of other preachers to become fixtures on BET".
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(Comments by Joan Boney)
I left Word of Faith church in 1982, moving to another state in USA.
I'm so glad God got me out of that church before all the scandals and before the divorce/remarriage of Robert and Marte Tilton, and before the destruction of the church building in Farmers Branch, Texas.
Today there is no evidence of a church having been at that location.
In the early 80's, I delivered a message to Bob Tilton that because he had stopped a prophet from speaking anything about being a prophet on his TV show, he had "killed" a prophet and "therefore God would destroy his house." For he and original wife divorced and Tilton remarried twice after Marte, (Bible adultery against first wife. Matthew 5:32)
The entire scandal is a great shame.
***
Many radio-TV ministries are funded by ministers saying, "Send me your prayer requests."
Individual Christians have access to God directly through Jesus Christ.
The apostle John says, in I John 5:13:14 ... And this is the confidence that we have in HIM (in God), that, if we ask any thing according to HIS will, HE heareth us: 15 And if we know that HE hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of HIM.
I have never solicited prayer requests, but rather I tell each person to go directly to God in prayer through Jesus Christ and pray according to the will of God and God will answer their prayers.
James 5:16 The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Fervent means "red hot".
The person seeking prayer will be able to pray a more fervent prayer over their problems than I could, in my opinion, for who cares about your need more than you do?
Also the apostle Paul instructed:
Philippians 4:6-7
6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
***
The apostle Peter says:
2 Peter 2 (Concerning corruption in ministries in the end times)
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
11 Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.
12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time.
Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet.
17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
***
The Book of Jude says:
1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:
2 Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, HE hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh (homosesuals), are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Genesis 19
8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
(JB ... Some church members have no fear of God. They act like God is some kind of light-hearted grandfather who delights in everything they choose to do. They should read the Book of Jeremiah and perhaps they will have some understanding of the judgment of God and how fearful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:31)
(Jude)
13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against HIM.
16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.
17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
(mockers: imitators of those they think to be godly)
19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:
23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
24 Now unto HIM that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of HIM glory with exceeding joy,
25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
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