The Balaam Network (TBN) has really been raking in the cash lately. With The Omega Code movie in the top ten of money making movies (thanks to discerning Christians everywhere) and their regular Praise-A-Thon, they are rolling in dough. So much so that they can now afford to beam utter heresy, like what you are about to read, to all of China. I have been watching their fund raising antics the last three nights. I never thought they could top John Avanzini's "Jesus and the disciples were rich", "one hundred fold return" and "the widow's mite" (she "wonted" something) ploys, but R.W. Shambach has just hit a new low. This e-mail confirmed what viewers heard Shambach say the other night raising funds for TBN. He has been on solidly for the last three days.
Time: Wed, 03-Nov-1999 16:50:58 GMT
I flipped over to the Praise-A-Thon last night and R.W. Shambach prophesied that if people make the 2000 dollar faith pledge to TBN, not only will God give them the 2000 dollars before the year 2000 but he will also make them totally debt free AND their WHOLE family will be saved before the year 2000. I just felt sick. I can only imagine all the people saying, "Wow, this is the answer I've been waiting for!" and sending in money they probably need for their own family to survive. I don't know but it seems these false prophets are getting bolder and bolder!
And this just in 11/8/99 in response to this article:
Dear (DITC):
I was just reading some of the new installments on your website. I read the one "Salvation sold for a donation to TBN." (My husband) and I have caught that program the past two nights (we've only been able to stomach a few minutes of it), but that is exactly what he is claiming. If people give him "$2,000 before the year 2000 they will have all their debts cancelled (and people are e-mailing in to him that they owe amounts like $150,000, etc.) and all their family and relatives will be saved." I was appalled. What in the world is he going to tell all these people when Jan. 1st hits? He even told people if they don't have the money (which most don't because they're in debt) to take out a loan or borrow the tithe on the $2000 and give him $200 to start with. It is just shocking. He said everything he said (last night) was "annointed" and was a prophetic message directly from God. What gall! It really made me sick, and everytime I heard the audience clap and cheer, I wondered, who are these people? Do they have brains? What are they thinking? I just can't fathom it. It is all so demonic and deceptive.
Anyway, I'm glad you put that on your website.
Do these new "prophets" and "apostles" really believe they can confer salvation on people by virtue of how much they donate to TBN? Does this or does this not smell like Catholic "indulgences"? Only this is worse. Surely R.W. doesn't mean they will be saved from debt, as he is calling them to give a gift most people can ill afford (especially after they spent their hard earned money on tickets to go see The Omega Code). Is salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone ... or not? I guess all Christians need to rethink their definition of salvation now, just like Jack Deere did a number of years ago. That's got me wondering ... did Jack ever find out what the gospel was after all? It has been a number of years since he told an interviewer that he no longer understood what the gospel meant but would in five or ten years. Perhaps Shambach has just answered his questions for him.
And that answer is ... to be saved just send in (via cash, personal check, money order, Visa or Mastercard) only $2000. That's right, for a low, low $2000. you and your whole family can be debt free and enjoy the benefits of salvation before the year 2000. All this without ever having to go through a messy, tearful admission that you are a sinner, and without even having to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Just put your faith in your faith and in TBN. They'll do all the work for you. They'll interpret the Bible for you, pray for you, have faith for you, speak God's Word to you directly (actually, no need to interpret Scripture at all anymore, come to think of it!) and spread the gospel for you.
No muss, no fuss. Now wasn't that easy?
