On Sun, 9 Jul 2006 23:59:27 GMT, wrote in
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On 8-Jul-2006, Ian MacLure wrote:

Not to mention Jimmy and Tammy Faye Bakkers bravura performance.

Back in the mid-70s my high school friends and I used to watch the PTL club
for its comedic value. We called it the "Pocket The Loot Club".
Scott Wilson

It's still going on under a different name:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity...work#Criticism
Criticism
The network has attracted criticism for its continuous fundraising
activities, including the "prosperity gospel," an offshoot of the
Word of faith doctrine that appears to promise donors, including
impecunious ones, that God will make them rich as long as they
have faith and give to TBN. Paul Crouch has made statements to his
viewers such as, "Have you got something that you have been
praying about ten, fifteen, twenty years? You have been praying
for it and haven't gotten it...," and that people haven't received
it because they haven't given their ten percent. During a 1997
program, he conversely said, "If you have been healed or saved or
blessed through TBN and have not contributed...you are robbing God
and will lose your reward in heaven." The network reports that
seventy percent of its donations are in amounts under fifty
dollars. Some viewers consider Crouch's prosperity as a positive
demonstration of the success of their prosperity gospel
message.[citation needed] A group of critical Christians has
banded together to attempt to jam the TBN phones during its
telethons as a protest against its fundraising, which the group's
organizer, a retired pastor, likens to robbery.

The network cancelled its November 2004 "Praise-a-thon"
fundraising telethon in favor of showing forty hours of reruns
from past telethons. Network officials blamed the cancellation
mostly on health concerns for both Paul and Jan Crouch, the latter
of whom had gall bladder surgery at the time. The Associated Press
reported those officials also noted however, that the cancellation
would take pressure off other religious figures who would have
appeared on the live telethon. In the wake of recent revelations
that Paul Crouch paid $425,000 in 1998 to a male former employee
to keep him quiet about claims of a homosexual tryst with Crouch,
and the AP also cited the recent newspaper reports about the
Crouchs' "lavish lifestyle" as well as ongoing rumors of marital
strife between Paul Sr. and Jan.

Paul Crouch Jr. voiced his belief that other ministries were
concerned "they are going to be next on the hit list." R. Marie
Griffith, a Princeton University scholar studying evangelical
Christianity and the media, said that "to take the live
broadcasting off...suggests...the chaos" at TBN.

If you thought Tammy Fay was a bizarre sight, wait until you see Jan
Crouch.

And then there's the son:

http://www.rickross.com/reference/tbn/tbn6.html
Televangelists settle $40 million plagiarism suit

These folks built a Taj Mahal on land that backs to the 405 freeway in
Orange County, California. They then illegally removed the CalTrans
landscaping that shielded motorists from the sight of their edifice.

It's evident, that folks are laughable crooks.