Pray TV
Brinton, Henry G.
Pray TV Religious television is here to stay, so let's get it right by Henry G. Brinton In the spring of 1986, PTL needed cash desperately. The television ministry had built up an $8.4...
...Among the most prominent of the televangelists were Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Jimmy Swaggart, and Jim Bakker, men who differed markedly in style but who shared the same basic beliefs about God, country, and the end of the world...
...Now that Jim Bakker is in prison and most of his fellow televangelists are struggling to stay in business, it is worthwhile to ask how Christians will use television to bring their message to the American people in the nineties...
...Bakker lived by his emotions, not his intellect, according to Shepard: "He used tears, humor, righteous anger, bruised self-pity, and gentle ministry to touch viewers in their living rooms...
...It was hardly surprising that the schismatic black priest George Stallings chose "Donahue" to announce his recent break with the Roman Catholic Church...
...All in all, the evangelical message fit the mood of the seventies and eighties: The world is a mess, but don't worry...
...Bakker lived by his emotions, not his intellect, according to Shepard: "He used tears, humor, righteous anger, bruised self-pity, and gentle ministry to touch viewers in their living rooms...
...All in all, the evangelical message fit the mood of the seventies and eighties: The world is a mess, but don't worry...
...Charles Shepard, an investigative reporter whose work about PTL won a Pulitzer Prize for The Charlotte Observer, leaves you feeling that Jim and his wife Tammy were really much more corrupt than they were ever said to be in the press—hard to believe but true...
...Saying specifically that he had chosen the show because of its national syndication, Stallings described his new African-American church and unveiled its official logo...
...They may share Bakker's ability to grab viewers emotionally, but their messages come from extremes in the Judeo-Christian tradition: Robertson most recalls Abraham, emphasizing the obligations religion imposes on its believers, while Jackson seems determined to be a modern Moses, emphasizing the liberation it promises them...
...As a manipulator of facts, he was a master: he could present PTL's affairs in the most favorable light possible, free from instant analysis by critical onlookers or tough questions from suspicious reporters...
...One of the most popular tenets of Bakker's faith was "seed-faith giving": Give to God and you shall receive much more in return, for God wants his followers to have material success...
...The Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr felt that TV was nothing less than a peril to culture...
...He made this decision on a feeling, a feeling of faith...
...It was hardly surprising that the schismatic black priest George Stallings chose "Donahue" to announce his recent break with the Roman Catholic Church...
...He's damn good," remarked the president to his aides...
...Charles Shepard, an investigative reporter whose work about PTL won a Pulitzer Prize for The Charlotte Observer, leaves you feeling that Jim and his wife Tammy were really much more corrupt than they were ever said to be in the press—hard to believe but true...
...Catholics were not alone in being suspicious of the power of television...
...Since when have churches needed logos...
...Now that Jim Bakker is in prison and most of his fellow televangelists are struggling to stay in business, it is worthwhile to ask how Christians will use television to bring their message to the American people in the nineties...
...But Robertson and Jackson will probably fail, despite their charisma...
...Bakker was never interested in ministerial duties such as teaching and counseling (he dropped out of Bible college after a year and a half...
...After viewing Nixon's Checkers speech, he wrote that the vice-presidential candidate's "tear-jerking account of his personal history, involving his devoted wife, charming children, and even the family dog [was a] great show," but "what becomes of every rule of logic and reason in the proceedings...
...television might be a peril to culture, but it's a part of modern culture that religion cannot ignore...
...The alliance between revivalism and Madison Avenue troubled Niebuhr, because he saw popular religion beginning to copy the secular world's frantic pursuit of success...
...Well, Lord, I know I felt faith," said Bakker to God and then to his studio audience...
...What is needed in the nineties is a television spokesperson for the full Judeo-Christian heritage...
...During his early training on Robertson's "700 Club," he learned to speak to the common person, intentionally weeding big words out of his vocabulary...
...his real love was theater, and as early as high school he was fascinated by show business...
...Bakker was not the first religious leader to tap the power of television, and he will not be the last...
...Shepard's most significant contributions are his insights into why the televangelist was so attractive to nearly a million followers...
...All the "high-pressure techniques of modern salesmanship" and the "arts of the Madison Avenue crowd" were pressed into service, according to Niebuhr, who described Graham's evangelism as having "a blandness which befits the Eisenhower era...
...It's a challenge worth meeting...
...Despite the Bakkers and the Swaggarts, because of the obvious power of TV, sincere religion should not look askance at it: Religious messages are important enough to be seen and heard widely...
...When he was accused by a reporter of lying to his studio audience, Bakker said, "Sometimes I just get caught up in what feels true...
...This was part of the prosperity gospel that had troubled Reinhold Niebuhr so much in the fifties, but it was an idea just right for the acquisitive eighties...
...Bakker was never interested in ministerial duties such as teaching and counseling (he dropped out of Bible college after a year and a half...
...Martin Luther King Jr...
...When Billy Graham's crusade came to New York in 1957, Reinhold Niebuhr became angry...
...In Forgiven,* Charles Shepard describes Bakker's appeal, revealing his gift "for making his TV audience feel what he felt—or seemed to be feeling...
...Unfortunately, his changing emotions were the tail that eventually wagged the PTL dog...
...It is no big surprise that Bakker found success in television...
...Logo...
...Viewers want bold stances, passionate extremes, and strong visuals, not the nuances and paradoxes that make Judaism and Christianity so rich...
...talk shows that examine the spiritual challenges of modern life in a balanced way...
...Praying for Dollars Forgiven is an exhaustive account of Bakker's life and career, containing details of his sexual activity with Jessica Hahn and a number of male PTL employees, revelations of his deceit and mismanagement, and stories of his incredible greed (he personally made $1.6 million at PTL in 1986...
...Unfortunately, most TV audiences do not get excited by people with moderate or mediating positions...
...Abortion, homosexuality, AIDS, and "secular humanism" were all signs that the country was sliding downhill, making life look bleak to the born-again Christian community...
...A message of obligation alone fosters narrow-mindedness and intolerance, while a call for pure liberation creates chaos and alienation...
...Shepard's most significant contributions are his insights into why the televangelist was so attractive to nearly a million followers...
...used television well, making the most of network coverage as he fought for civil rights through civil disobedience...
...Both obligation and liberation are essential elements of religious life, but neither should be emphasized at the expense of the other...
...This was part of the prosperity gospel that had troubled Reinhold Niebuhr so much in the fifties, but it was an idea just right for the acquisitive eighties...
...He explained to his followers that the Lord seemed to speak in his heart, saying, "Well, you're on television all day...
...The televangelists rose to prominence by describing America as a country blessed by God but in danger of losing divine favor if it did not adhere to a Christian agenda...
...Charles E. Shepard...
...It is not hard to imagine how religion could better channel this power: televised movie reviews with an emphasis on the religious messages found in contemporary films...
...What is needed in the nineties is a television spokesperson for the full Judeo-Christian heritage...
...television might be a peril to culture, but it's a part of modern culture that religion cannot ignore...
...Among the most prominent of the televangelists were Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Jimmy Swaggart, and Jim Bakker, men who differed markedly in style but who shared the same basic beliefs about God, country, and the end of the world...
...One of the most popular tenets of Bakker's faith was "seed-faith giving": Give to God and you shall receive much more in return, for God wants his followers to have material success...
...The television ministry had built up an $8.4 million debt to the builder of its Christian amusement park, Heritage USA...
...you'll be saved if you believe in that old-time religion...
...Clearly, the most constructive religious message for Americans is one that balances liberation and obligation...
...What is it about television that allows, or perhaps even encourages, a television minister like Jim Bakker to succeed...
...When he was accused by a reporter of lying to his studio audience, Bakker said, "Sometimes I just get caught up in what feels true...
...Preacher features It wasn't always this way...
...Jim Bakker figured that he needed to do something fast, so he decided to hold a telethon to raise at least $1 million for the builder...
...PTL's audience grabbed at the deal and contributed $16.6 million in just 12 days...
...ton Sheen and Martin Luther King used TV well before Bakker, and both Pat Robertson and Jesse Jackson are trying to reach out through the medium today...
...just mention it to the satellite people, the need, and do the special that you were doing with the studio audience all week long, to be able to raise that million dollars...
...All three networks covered his "I Have a Dream" speech live at the Lincoln Memorial, giving President Kennedy and millions of Americans their first chance to witness an entire King address...
...Jim Bakker is now serving a prison sentence for fraud...
...By 1987, Jim Bakker's religious messages, based on simple, childlike trust in God, were being transmitted through 165 local stations covering 85 percent of the national TV market...
...It is no big surprise that Bakker found success in television...
...Pray TV Religious television is here to stay, so let's get it right by Henry G. Brinton In the spring of 1986, PTL needed cash desperately...
...FulHenry G. Brinton is the pastor of Calvary Presbyterian Church in Alexandria, Virginia...
...Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and many nonreligious people watched the show...
...Forgiven: The Rise and Fall of Jim Bakker and the PTL Min istry...
...at its peak it was carried by ABC on 170 stations in the U.S...
...you'll be saved if you believe in that old-time religion...
...After the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955-56, King was the second black ever to appear on NBC's "Meet the Press...
...After the assassinations of Kennedy and King, the turmoil of Vietnam and Watergate, and the headaches of oil crises and runaway inflation, religious messages on television went from optimistic dreams to pessimistic pronouncements...
...There was only one problem, and it had religious overtones: There was no room at the inn...
...Unless a television minister comes along who can see the value of being both an Abraham and a Moses, religious leaders on TV will continue to be viewed by most Americans as extremists, charlatans, or fools...
...The challenge, of course, will be for religious broadcasters to present shows with substance while retaining humility in a medium that glorifies shallowness and celebrity...
...talk shows that examine the spiritual challenges of modern life in a balanced way...
...After 20 years of broadcasting the "Catholic Hour" over radio, Bishop Fulton Sheen broke into television in the early 1950s with his series "Life is Worth Living...
...By the time of the 1963 March on Washington, King was a celebrity...
...The special offer was a steal: for $1,000, Bakker offered his viewers a package of lodging and free recreation that had once cost $3,000...
...The challenge, of course, will be for religious broadcasters to present shows with substance while retaining humility in a medium that glorifies shallowness and celebrity...
...During his early training on Robertson's "700 Club," he learned to speak to the common person, intentionally weeding big words out of his vocabulary...
...By 1987, Jim Bakker's religious messages, based on simple, childlike trust in God, were being transmitted through 165 local stations covering 85 percent of the national TV market...
...Shepard is right on target when he says that Bakker's program "testified to the power of one-sided television to shape public opinion...
...The story of Bakker's rise and fall reveals the ambitions of all four, since it was Robertson who gave Bakker his start in broadcasting on his "700 Club," Swaggart who worked to expose the Jessica Hahn affair and bring Bakker down, and Falwell who stepped in to take control of the collapsing empire...
...But even if America did not turn itself around, most believers had an escape clause in their religious contracts: God's final triumph was near, and his faithful followers would be taken from the sinful world to a heavenly kingdom when the end arrived...
...Unfortunately, his changing emotions were the tail that eventually wagged the PTL dog...
...Sheen's talks on subjects such as war, Stalin, psychiatry, and God's sense of humor were extremely popular, and his show won an Emmy in 1952...
...It is not hard to imagine how religion could better channel this power: televised movie reviews with an emphasis on the religious messages found in contemporary films...
...and 17 in Canada...
...Despite the Bakkers and the Swaggarts, because of the obvious power of TV, sincere religion should not look askance at it: Religious messages are important enough to be seen and heard widely...
...A message of obligation alone fosters narrow-mindedness and intolerance, while a call for pure liberation creates chaos and alienation...
...The story of Bakker's rise and fall reveals the ambitions of all four, since it was Robertson who gave Bakker his start in broadcasting on his "700 Club," Swaggart who worked to expose the Jessica Hahn affair and bring Bakker down, and Falwell who stepped in to take control of the collapsing empire...
...real life" stories showing work in church homeless shelters and ministries among the rural poor...
...Saying specifically that he had chosen the show because of its national syndication, Stallings described his new African-American church and unveiled its official logo...
...Praying for Dollars Forgiven is an exhaustive account of Bakker's life and career, containing details of his sexual activity with Jessica Hahn and a number of male PTL employees, revelations of his deceit and mismanagement, and stories of his incredible greed (he personally made $1.6 million at PTL in 1986...
...Since when have churches needed logos...
...He could perform well on-screen and broke down the distance between himself and his audience by building a set to resemble his living room and beginning his shows by walking out of the studio audience...
...The title of the program captured the optimism of the fifties perfectly: Life was worth living, especially for Americans in a time of unparalleled prosperity...
...If the Roman Catholic Church had not become nervous about the bishop's celebrity status and pulled him off the air in 1957, he might have continued broadcasting through the sixties...
...real life" stories showing work in church homeless shelters and ministries among the rural poor...
...his real love was theater, and as early as high school he was fascinated by show business...
...Unfortunately, most TV audiences do not get excited by people with moderate or mediating positions...
...Clearly, the most constructive religious message for Americans is one that balances liberation and obligation...
...He could perform well on-screen and broke down the distance between himself and his audience by building a set to resemble his living room and beginning his shows by walking out of the studio audience...
...Logo...
...As a manipulator of facts, he was a master: he could present PTL's affairs in the most favorable light possible, free from instant analysis by critical onlookers or tough questions from suspicious reporters...
...Shepard is right on target when he says that Bakker's program "testified to the power of one-sided television to shape public opinion...
...Atlantic Monthly Press, $22.95...
...Viewers want bold stances, passionate extremes, and strong visuals, not the nuances and paradoxes that make Judaism and Christianity so rich...
...It's a challenge worth meeting...
Vol. 22 • April 1990 • No. 3
