Investigations in the News

Articles on Trinity Foundation

Trinity Foundation: Ole Anthony on a mission to root out false prophets, Lexington Herald-Leader, USA, 7/29/06
Ole Anthony: End homelessness, The Dallas Morning News, 10/27/2005
God doesn’t need Ole Anthony, The New Yorker, 12/6/2004
Onward Christian Soldier, Los Angeles Times, 12/8/2002
Detectives for Christ, U.S. News & World Report, 12/8/1997
The God Thing, D Magazine, 12/1999

Selected Investigative Reports

Jim Bakker
Bakker’s role in fund raising questioned, Dallas Morning News, 11/17/1996
(soon after his release from prison)… and Now for something a little more current, 2012… Bakker is now selling survivalist gear and enema kits according to the Daily Mail (UK)… more here, and it is WAY overpriced according to the Atlantic Wire– here

Crouch family (Paul, Jan, Matt, etc.) and TBN
Televangelist Paul Crouch Attempts to Keep Accuser Quiet, Los Angeles Times, 9/12/2004
Pastor’s Empire Built on Acts of Faith, and Cash, Los Angeles Times, 9/19/2004
TBN’s Promise: Send Money and See Riches, Los Angeles Times, 9/20/2004
Ex-Worker Accusing TBN Pastor Says He Had Sex to Keep His Job, Los Angeles Times, 9/22/2004
Will Paul Crouch Earn Reward in Heaven?, Los Angeles Times, 10/8/2004
Live TBN Fund Drive Axed, Los Angeles Times, 10/27/2004
Christian TV giant woos Phila. as it faces legal tiff, Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/14/2004
Trouble At Trinity (video). Investigative report by Richard Ray, of Fox Television Dallas, 11/29/04
TBN Accuser Has Charge Dismissed, Los Angeles Times, 3/1/2005
Documentation of the alleged sexual misconduct of Paul Crouch

Deep Pockets Fuel Hollywood Crusade Missionary in Hollywood (Matthew Crouch), Los Angeles Times, 10/23/2006  By Bill Lobdell

Orange County Register, 2012… In February 2012, Brittany Koper, granddaughter of the Crouches, sued her former TBN attorneys for conflict of interest.  This lawsuit and following legal actions have exposed the inner workings of TBN.  Follow the trail with articles by the Orange County Register’s OC Watchdog:

“Sex, Lies, and Television”, by Warren Smith, World magazine, September 8 Issue, online as of 8/24/2012

Jesse DuplantisDuplantis exposed, Fox 8 New Orleans, Lee Zurik, May 2010

John Hagee
Pastor Strangelove, The American Prospect, 6/6/2006

Benny Hinn
The Price of Healing, Los Angeles Times, 7/27/2003
The Heretic, D Magazine, 8/2003
10 minutes of excerpts from Dateline’s Benny Hinn investigation, NBC Dateline, 3/6/2005
Judge blocks KTRK report on evangelist and Judge says KTRK can air information on televangelist, Houston Chronicle, 3/2&3/2005
Benny Hinn Ministries’ Notice of Dismissal of it’s suit against NBC and Final Judgement, March 8, 2005
IRS questions Hinn’s tax-exempt status, Dallas Morning News, 7/6/2005
Tax exemption under review, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8/13/2005
Trinity Foundation’s Documentation of Benny Hinn’s Financial Practices

T.D. Jakes
With Gifts From God, Washington Post, 3/25/2001

Saint Matthew’s Churches / Rev. James Ewing
Reaping From Faith, Tulsa World, 4/27/2003
Prayer rug to riches, Charitywatch.org, 2/26/2005
WOWK-TV Investigative Report: Reverend Ewing’s magical prayer rug. (video)
Recipients Of The Jesus Rug Warned To Keep Eyes Open, Hartford Courant, 5/9/2006
Prayers, cash flow into Tulsa , Tulsa World, 5/13/2007

Joyce Meyer
From Fenton to fortune in the name of God, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 11/15/2003
Money pitch is a hit with followers, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 11/17/2003
Meyer’s charity work begins at home, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 11/17/2003
TV evangelists call signals from the same playbook, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 11/18/2003
Joyce Meyer ministry is selling posh homes, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 4/17/2005
Meyer received millions, records show, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 4/30/2005
Joyce Meyer Ministries: The big squeeze, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 5/07/2005
Note: After the series of stories that Carolyn Tuft wrote about Joyce Meyer Ministries, the Post-Dispatch ran a letter of apology to readers regarding two of the stories and suspended Tuft for two days. Tuft stands by her reporting. The St. Louis Newspaper Guild claims that the apology was unprecedented, unnecessary, and was the result of a negotiated settlement to escape litigation by Joyce Meyer Ministries. See the list of articles below.
To our readers, an apology, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 6/19/2005
Rally Scheduled for ‘St. Louis Post-Dispatch’ Reporter Over Suspension, Editor & Publisher, 8/21/2006
Newspaper, reporter enter arbitration over stories, Examiner.com, 8/22/2006
Guild Members Rally Around St. Louis Reporter, The Newspaper Guild, 8/27/2006
Hang Tuft: An embittered Post-Dispatch reporter says her editors hung her out to dry, Riverfront Times, 8/30/2006 Guild charges Post with ‘breach of ethics’, The St. Louis Journalism Review, September, 2006

Mike Murdock
Profit in the pulpit, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3/02/2003
Blurring the Line, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3/03/2003
Behind the Hype, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3/04/2003
Murdock uses ‘love bonding’ to reach donors, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3/04/2003
Finding Sanctuary, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 12/5/2004

Joel Osteen
Uplifted: Critics say he’s too easygoing, but televangelist Joel Osteen is winning a devoted following with his positive approach, The Boston Globe, 07/10/2005

Luis Palau
Man With A Message, The Tampa Tribune, 11/19/2006

Rod Parsley With God On His Side. Meet Rod Parsley: rising star of the religious right, GOP ally — and subject of lawsuits over his church governance and secretive fund-raising practices. The American Prospect, 11/10/05

Don Stewart
Finances, Fraud and False Teaching, Personal Freedom Outreach, 2002

Robert Tilton
The Resurrection of Robert Tilton, Miami New Times, 1/1/1998
Oh God, you devil, Salon.com, 10/21/2000
Robert Tilton: From downfall to windfall, Tulsa World, 5/4/2003
Bob’s back, and more entertaining than ever, Dallas Morning News, 9/25/2004
Robert Tilton returns, and his hand is out again, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 2/5/2005

Word of Faith Fellowship
Spindale, North Carolina: Word of Faith Fellowship, watchman.org (Watchman Fellowship, Inc.), 2000

Randy and Paula WhiteEd Young
Of Faith, Fame & Fortune, The Tampa Tribune, 6/20/2007
Dream Home Win Proves Too Good To Be True, The Tampa Tribune, 6/25/2007
Widow: Pastors Reneged On Deal To Care For Me, The Tampa Tribune, 6/27/2007
In God’s Hands or the Pastors’?, The Tampa Tribune, 7/1/2007

Ed Young (Jr.) WFAA (Dallas’ ABC affiliate) ran a couple of stories during April, 2010 about his extravagant lifestyle here and here

See Also:

Tele-Evangelist Lifestyles [Lifestyles of The Rich and Infamous], InPlainSite.org
Get Rich with God: Pastor Mac Hammond’s suburban megachurch preaches heavenly financial rewards in the here and now – if you’ve got the faith to give till it hurts, City Pages, 12/13/2006
God’s Millionaires: Pentecostal churches are not waiting to inherit the earth. They are taking it now, tax-free. Business Review Weekly Magazine, Austalian, May 26, 2005

Preachers in Peril, Eclipse, May/June 2005
A LIARS REVIVAL?, By Thomas Horn
Men, Woman Say They Were Cured by Faith Healings, NewsNet5, 2/22/2005