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  • Paul Crouch Televangelist, Dies at 79

    Paul Crouch Televangelist, Dies at 79

    Paul Crouch, the televangelist and founder of Trinity Broadcasting, the largest Christian broadcasting network, has died at age 79.

    Crouch died in his Orange County, California home Saturday. He had been suffering from degenerative heart disease for over 10 years, which was the cause of his death.

    Trinity Broadcast Network reported in October that Crouch had become sick and was taken to a Dallas hospital while visiting the network’s facility in Colleyville, Texas. He later returned to California for continued treatment of “heart and related health issues.”

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    He and his wife Janice Wendell Bethany “Jan” Crouch started the evangelical giant on the heels of the “Assemblies of God” with Jim and Tammy Fae Bakker.

    Since its inception, there have been financial scandals of huge proportions.

    Former employees, who also happen to be relatives of the company’s founders, blew the whistle on this organizations embezzlement charges among other donation fraud. Brittany Koper, granddaughter of TBN founder Paul Crouch, claims that hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations have been spent on luxury homes and just general luxurious living.

    Koper sued for wrongful termination over being fired for her spilling the beans on the financial wrongdoing.

    Some of the allegations included misappropriation of funds, claiming “unlawful and unreported income distributions to Trinity Broadcasting’s directors” with “multiple jet aircrafts, including a $50m Global Express luxury jet purchased for the personal use of the Crouches through a sham loan … as well as an $8m Hawker jet aircraft purchased by Trinity Broadcasting for the personal use of director Janice Crouch.”

    It also describes the purchase of “multiple motor vehicles, including a $100,000 motor home purchased by Trinity Broadcasting as a mobile residence for Janice Crouch’s dogs.”

    In an interview with the Orange County Register Koper said, “I don’t want to sound nuts, but God uses people to different ends, and he’s using me to expose this. He doesn’t want the money-changers in his house anymore. God is using me to clean house and get TBN into the hands of someone who will make sure it’s run properly.”

    Koper and her husband were also accused of taking money that didn’t belong to them.

    The Crouches dismissed the allegations, and their attorney said the network’s spending was in line with its mission to spread the gospel throughout the world.

    He was survived by his wife and their two sons, Matthew and Paul Jr. TBN continues strong.

    Images, Wikimedia Commons
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  • Paul Crouch, Controversial TV Preacher, Dead at 79

    Paul Crouch, the founder of the incredibly successful Trinity Broadcasting Network died yesterday at the age of 79, according to the Los Angeles Times. He was reportedly admitted to a Dallas area hospital for heart issues in October while on a visit to the Colleyville, Texas TBN facilities. He was later taken back to his hometown of Orange, California for further treatment.

    Crouch moved to California in the early 60’s to mangage the media unit of the Assembies of God. It was there that he claimed a message from God provoked him to start buying up small television stations, cable stations, and satellites. He transformed the smattering of small units into enough religious content to run a 24-hour cable network, Trinity Broadcasting Network.

    TBN went on to become “the country’s most-watched religious network,” according to J. Gordon Melton and Jon R. Stone in their book “Prime-Time Religion: An Encyclopedia of Religious Broadcasting”, by the mid 80’s. The franchise accrued 84 satellite channels and more than 18,000 television and cable affiliates as well as a Christian amusement park in Orlando. It also quickly became the center of controversy after Crouch’s business practices came under fire.

    He and his pink-haired wife were famous for promoting the “Gospel of Prosperity”, wherein Crouch encouraged people to give to God’s work, and help move God’s message with a sizeable contribution. In return, he promised God would “bless” contributors with help in their own pocketbooks. This message became questionable when Crouch and his wife began to lead an obviously extravagant lifestyle.

    Critics of this so-called Prosperity gospel complained that his jets, mansions and expense-account meals were paid by tax-exempt donations from TBN’s legion of “prayer partners”, not by any earnings that Crouch, himself, had accrued. According to Fox News, last year the couple’s granddaughter filed a lawsuit claiming that $50 million dollars had been misappropriated for private jets and 13 mansions around the US for the Crouch’s private use.

    The Crouches and their attorney dismissed the allegations. They said those things were used in line with spreading God’s message. While this mess has yet to be resolved, the network continues to mourn the loss of it’s founding father with the words, “We mourn Paul’s passing and he will be greatly missed. But we know, as the old hymn reminds us, soon enough we will see him again in that great `meeting in the air.”

    Image via wikimedia commons