#2725: Jeremiah Cummings

Jeremiah Cummings is a preacher, former member of the soul group Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes and former Muslim who converted to Christianity in 1997. He is, however, probably most famous for his somewhat non-flattering appearance in Bill Maher’s Religulous. Cummings is a promoter of the prosperity gospel, which is the fundie idiot version of the New Age self-help rubbish law of attraction – with the twist, of course, that you also need to send money to him, Cummings, to make you wishful thining work, an act that will then make God answer your prayers if you pray well enough and in the right way. “Money comes, money happens”, says Cummings. “Call me Dr.,” asks Cummings, who apparently has no degree in anything.

Cummings justifies his scam in part by claiming that Jesus was all about getting rich: Jesus, as Cummings imagines him, “was not poor ... he was a well-dressed man” who wore “fine linen”. He even has a book, From Gold to Glory, to explain (or whatever) how things, according to him, hang together. His subsequent complaint that his appearance in Religulous ruined his career must accordingly mean that he isn’t doing things entirely right himself.

Diagnosis: Con man, though he probably believes his own scam. That said, he seems to have enjoyed a more subdued presence after Religulous, and we’re not entirely sure about his current whereabouts.