Creflo Dollar is a televangelist and a central figure in the Name it and Claim it movement. Taffi is his wife. Creflo Dollar’s real name is, believe it or not, “Dollar”, and he teaches you... that Jesus wants you (him) to be rich.He also claims that the Bible promises some kind of "Believer's Rights", which would give his followers his powers, such as making the bread last really long and raising the dead. Controlled experiments have at present failed to corroborate the latter hypothesis, but such things do not really concern Creflo’s ilk or followers.
Creflo and Taffi lead an extremely extravagant lifestyle (private jets, Rolls-Royces and so on). His church’s financial records are currently under investigation (here and here).
Diagnosis: Might be a complete fraud, but I have no concrete evidence that these loons don't believe what they preach. Although the popularity of the prosperity gospel televangelists seems to be in decline, these people have shitloads of money on their hands, and would have been dangerous in virtue of that alone.
Wasn't there a comment on this one from someone expressing disagreement with the characterization of the Dollars? Or am I imagining things? Such posts should be retained, though, for the sake of an open and informed debate.
ReplyDeleteThe comment was someone named "How to be a Fashion Wardrobe Stylist" and didn't really seem to connect to the post, so it looked like a spambot to me. Spambots are the only thing I censor.
ReplyDeleteOh, well that's cool then, my mistake.
ReplyDeleteWardrobe Stylist: our conclusion is as strong as it can be given our research; in other words, we have not ascertained whether the Dollars are frauds, loons or both, and that is clearly stated in the Diagnosis section. I am not sure why you think we need to figure that out for certain. I take you to mean that insofar as this is the "Encyclopedia of American Loons" we should ascertain that the purported loons are, in fact, loons, rather than mere frauds, but in many cases that task would be unreasonable (and it isn't like the charlatans out there don't deserve the embarassment of being listed as a major loon either).
ReplyDeleteYou did not point out anything actually false in the given post, so I am not sure why you question our qualifications. But we're suckers for good advice, so if you point out a false claim (and provide convincing reasons to think it's false), we'll promptly revise the post.
As for the hand of Elohim, I am a little puzzled. "Elohim" is plural, i.e. meaning "gods" or "spirits". Do several spirits share a single hand? Or do you think of something different?
I have no need to explain the creator to you because You obviously know nothing about Elohim!!!
ReplyDeleteI didn`t ask you to explain any creators. I asked you to explain i) why the Dollars are merely frauds rather than loons or frauds (surely you don`t intend to claim that the Dollars are the creators?) - our post is about them and not about any others, creators or not; ii) why you are talking about gods (in the plural) rather than a single God - of course, being a polytheist is perfectly fine, but if you are, I don`t understand your defense of the Dollars, who are - as far as I can discern - Christians.
ReplyDeletewow. Interesting posts. I would like to say something if I may. Those of you who are questioning the Dollars and other televangelists are in your right to do so. But it would be good to understand that those men and women who are trying to live for God will be blessed. I know that it looks like the pastor is skimming money from the church but when someone is trying to live for God and to serve His purpose, they will be blessed. Money, health, family, employment.. anywhere God chooses to bless it will happen. That isn't to say that Christians don't have trouble. In fact, we tend to have more issues than non christians. But we tend to put tragedy in perspective by working to trust God in spite of the severity of our problems. To how to become a fashion wardrobe stylist... I understand your need to defend our God but you don't have to. As a Christian, your role is to simply listen respectfully and pray for those who don't agree with you. The bible states that we are not to argue with folks about religion- in fact you would do well to take your frustrations to God in praye and the more you pray for those who struggle the more likely God will get a hold of them. We are not to get into petty arguments Shake the dust off in protest, move on and keep praying! How you live your life is your ministry.
ReplyDeleteIf there is any truth to this, it is not true in quite the way Dollar thinks it is.
ReplyDeleteCreflo Dollar’s “other name” is Michael Smith per Wikipedia... such a commonly used name, which is probably why he changed it to something distinct.
ReplyDeletePlease behave yourselves, and according to Matthew 7 in the New Testament “Judge not lest you be judged.” And your Mom said, “if you can’t say something nice, say nothing at all.”