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Inspiration Networks include the Inspiration Network, La Familia Cosmovision, Inspiration Life Television and Inspiration Network International. The Inspiration Network is carried on more than 2,500 U.S. cable systems. And its international station goes to 50 million households in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, according to the network.
The organization has grown into a $50-million a year venture. Its nonprofit ministries brought in $17 in donations in 2005, the most recent year data was available. With operations scattered across 9 campuses, it produces both religious and secular programming. Its CEO, David Cerullo, was paid $1.1 million, according to federal tax documents.
The Inspiration Networks' signature station broadcasts a lengthy lineup of well-known religious leaders: The Rev. Charles Stanley, a sober-tongued United Methodist Church minister out of Atlanta; John Hagee, the firebrand Texan known for staunchly pro-Israel preaching; Jerry Falwell; and Jay Sekulow, senior counsel for the American Center for Law & Justice, a sort of religious right counterpoint to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Then there's Joyce Meyer, a frequent target of prosperity gospel critics; the Rev. James Robison, founder of a worldwide relief organization; Bishop T.D. Jakes, the phenomenally popular nondenominational pastor of The Potter's House, a megachurch in Texas; and Mac Hammond, the high-rolling Minnesotan who's been accused by the liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics of violating federal tax guidelines for nonprofits.
The ministries that Inspiration broadcasts, obviously, represent a multitude of Christian voices (a few shows do address Judaism). Many of these ministers do an amazing amount of good works. But some, such as Morris Cerullo, promulgate a theology that critics say is, at the very least, easily misused and, at the most, blatant hucksterism that preys upon the faith of the vulnerable.
Consider Benny Hinn.
Most channel surfers have a passing familiarity with the melodramatic, Nehru-jacketed Hinn, who can knock believers down merely by blowing on them. An undeniably controversial figure, Hinn has attracted the scrutiny of secular skeptics, who label him a charlatan, and Christian critics, who see his message as not just fraudulent but blasphemous.
Wall Watchers, a Matthews-based evangelical watchdog group with employees scattered around the United States, gives Hinn's ministry a grade of "F" for transparency and recommends donors give money elsewhere, possibly to "one of the many Biblically based ministries that are not only more transparent in their dealings with the public but also treat donor's funds as a sacred trust dedicated exclusively for the Lord's work."
Hinn, according to a Wall Watchers report that cites its own research as well as a 2005 report from the TV newsmagazine Dateline, "lives a lavish lifestyle with funds intended for charitable purposes; preaches a self-serving prosperity theology message; manipulates individuals at 'healing crusades' for personal gain; makes unsubstantiated claims of healings; is nontransparent and lacks independent board oversight."
The Bible includes abundant accounts of God rewarding people for obedience. Luke 6:38 states, "Give and it shall be given to you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over." But messages of anti-materialism also abound. Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, "Do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth ... but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven."
Macdonald, pastor of Broad Street United Methodist Church in Mooresville, says prosperity gospel is "directly contrary" to the teachings of Jesus. Macdonald began writing religion columns during the heyday of Jim Bakker, mostly for the Gaston Gazette and the now-defunct Iredell Neighbors section of the Charlotte Observer. His purpose, he says, is to "make sure that if people reject the Gospel, that it's the real Gospel they're rejecting and not a false Gospel."
Prosperity gospels give non-believers the wrong idea about Christianity, Macdonald says. "I think it gives them the idea that Christianity is trivial and unimportant," he says. "They're rejecting a perverted interpretation of the Gospel."
Of course, one doesn't have to shun wealth to be a good Christian. "But that's not the goal in life," Macdonald says.
Do the Cerullos subscribe to this theology? The record seems to indicate yes. Recent broadcasts of David Cerullo's show certainly include appeals for money, with intimations that "sowing a seed" will reap financial or personal rewards. A spokesman for Inspiration Networks, senior vice president for communications John E. Roos, says, "The Bible is filled with verses expressing God's desire to bless people financially ... This is not the same as the 'prosperity Gospel.'" (For more of Roos' comments, see sidebar).
