Who’s Who Digest
of the
Wild World of Religion
The profiles on this webpage are part of a multi-
Profiles of Names Beginning with T through Z
Names that are underlined in the list at the left below can be clicked to go to more
extensive profiles or more related information elsewhere in the Field Guide. Within
the mini-
IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING LINKS:
Some profiles below contain links to other websites which may contain material of interest regarding the profiled individuals. Inclusion of these links should not be considered "endorsement" of all of the opinions, conclusions and doctrinal positions of the authors of those websites. They are included because they do contain credible documentation on the facts regarding the profiled individuals. Readers are encouraged to consider carefully the documentation and come to their own informed conclusions, based on their own understanding of Biblical doctrine and principles.
T
James Tabor, currently a Professor at the University of North Carolina, is a former employee of Ambassador College and the Worldwide Church of God, although he severed ties with that organization many years ago. Still, he is a popular figure among some former WCG members, a number of whom assume his background gives him a similar understanding to their own about the Bible. He has particularly gathered support among such folks for his "Original Bible Project," a new translation of the Bible in progress which purports to be more historically and linguistically accurate than previous translations because it takes into consideration more carefully the Israelite and Judaic background underlying the writings. However, most are unaware that Tabor no longer accepts Jesus Christ as Savior, nor does he accept the New Testament as inspired scripture. (Click on Tabor's name above for more details.)
One of the most prolific "date setters" in End Time Prophecy movement history.
From The End of Time
[Taylor,] One of America's most prominent prophecy teachers, organised a [1988] tour of Israel to coincide with Whisenant's date, [which predicted the Rapture to occur that year] priced $11,850 including 'return if necessary'. His publicity material used the possibility of Rapture from the Holy Land as a sales pitch: 'We stay at the Intercontinental Hotel right on the Mount of Olives where you can get the beautiful view of the Eastern Gate and the Temple Mount. And if this is the year of our Lord's return, as we anticipate, you may even ascend to Glory from within a few feet of His ascension."
It is surprising anyone would have paid attention to him by this time-
(1918-
The emphasis of Berachah is the dissemination, primarily by a huge collection of tape recordings, of Thieme's unusual teachings. The Berachah website notes that "Thieme teaches from the original languages of Scripture in the light of the historical context in which the Bible was written. He has developed an innovative system of vocabulary, illustrations, and biblical categories designed to communicate the truths of God’s Word."
Although the doctrinal statement of Berachah Church would be "orthodox" by the standards of many Protestant denominations, many of Thieme's actual teachings are very controversial, and many if not most of his devoted students believe him to be the only ultimate source for accurate Bible interpretation. These students are referred to by themselves and by Berachah as "tapers," since their primary function seems to be to listen daily to Thieme's recordings. The tapes (and now MP3 files), currently over 11,000 hours of recording according to the Berachah website, are provided free of charge to all who request them, at the rate of 20 every three weeks.
One of his most controversial teachings is the "Doctrine of Right Pastor." The implication of this doctrine is that each Christian has one and only one pastor who can provide him or her with proper guidance and teaching, and that thus each Christian should seek out that pastor and give him total loyalty and obedience. Given the extreme emphasis on Thieme's own idiosyncratic doctrinal interpretations in the Berachah scheme of things, it seems obvious that his students believe only Thieme himself or those he personally taught can possibly qualify as such a pastor. A number of websites evaluate some of Thieme's teachings, but the definitive analysis and overview of his earliest years is a book titled Bob Thieme's Teaching on Christian Living originally written in 1978 by Dr. Joe Wall as a Th.D. dissertation at Dallas Theological Seminary. It can be downloaded in pdf form from the Net at no charge.
Popular Word Faith evangelist, founder of Dwight Thompson World Outreach Ministries. Thompson is one of the inner circle on Paul and Jan Crouch's Trinity Broadcasting Network and regularly appears on Praise the Lord shows and telethons on TBN. He has an extensive audio tape ministry which distributes his standard Word Faith (healing and prosperity) teachings.
One of the most obnoxious televangelists in history, with the most ludicrous style
of soliciting funds on his show ... which was mostly what he did on that show. Indeed,
what he still does-
An article from 5/3/2003 in the Tulsa World newspaper summarizes Tilton's fall:
In 1991, ABC-
"PrimeTime Live" suggested Tilton's ministry engaged in mail fraud and showed contributors' letters, many of them requests for help, in a trash Dumpster outside Commercial Bank of Tulsa. A Tulsa recycler said he also found thousands of prayer requests for Tilton's ministry among the waste sent to him by a company that handled Tilton's mail.
The program sparked an investigation by the Texas attorney general and numerous lawsuits. Stations canceled Tilton's television program until it eventually went off the air.
He divorced his first wife, Marte Tilton, in 1993, and married evangelist and former beauty queen Leigh Valentine the following year.
Two years later, his first wife sued for more than $1 million and his marriage to Valentine ended in a bitter public feud. Valentine alleged Tilton, in a drunken rage, verbally abused her, claimed he was the pope and thought rats were eating his brain. She eventually lost her claim to church assets.
Tilton has since married a Florida woman, Maria Rodriguez.
Tilton sold his Dallas church in 1999 for $6.1 million. At the time, headlines dubbed Tilton a "beleaguered TV preacher" and news coverage portrayed a man beset by marital and financial problems. But he was already well into his comeback.
During testimony in his divorce from Valentine, Tilton testified that he was bringing
in about $800,000 per month and living aboard a $450,000 yacht in Fort Lauderdale,
Fla. Records show the 50-
The Tulsa article offers several examples of solicitation letters sent to Tilton's mailing list, including the following two:
A thick mailing includes a large poster of Tilton with one hand raised and his eyes
closed tightly, surrounded by 21 squares marking a calendar. The mailing includes
21 stickers that recipients are to peel off and affix each day to the poster. It
also includes a red "prayer of agreement miracle cloth" and three forms that recipients
can return along with financial donations during each week of the 21-
Tilton is pictured throughout the mailing grimacing in prayer, on his knees praying and clutching a red cloth and praying.
"Take the enclosed poster of me and my hand and put it up on your refrigerator or a mirror . . . somewhere so that you'll see it every day. Then every day for the next 21 days . . . lay your hand on top of mine and agree with me for your miracle," the letter states.
The letter also directs recipients to trace their hand on a "miracle request" form
and return it with the red prayer cloth. Tilton promises to take the requests and
cloths "to my prayer room or my prayer altar on my daily TV program, Success-
The letter ends by requesting "your best financial gift as an expression of appreciation."
"You don't buy God but all throughout the Bible, when people came to God with prayer requests, they always brought a quality offering."
~~~~~
"I must tell you boldly: God wants to make you rich. . . . God wants to make a millionaire out of certain ones who receive this letter. Is it you?"
The letter includes a large slip of paper fashioned into a $1 million bill and a penny glued to the reverse side. The bill includes a checklist of desires, including a new home, new car, a piece of real estate or money for vacation.
"I want you to put a checkmark on the back of the Million Dollar Bill of what you need or desire, and send it back to me, along with a Seed Faith Gift of $200. . . . This ministry has given you spiritual food, so it's time to pay your tithes."
Who would respond to such blatantly phony pitches for money? A woman who worked on a temporary assignment opening letters for Tilton's ministry is quoted in the Tulsa article regarding the letters which accompanied donations to the ministry:
"You cannot help but read them," she said. "All these letters were like, 'Pray for me,' because they were terminal or their son is terminal or there was no money for food . . . desperate situations."
She said nearly all of the letters she opened were from rural Florida or rural Georgia and they often contained cash in odd amounts.
"There would be like $17, and the letter would say, 'I realize I have to give $2 more than I usually give.' "
She described the letter writers as lonely homebound people in rural areas wanting help from God.
Yes, inexplicably, Tilton has been able to make a successful comeback into televangelism. He is using the same type of goofy gimmicks he used over a decade ago to get people to send money ... and sadly they are still doing the job. The Tulsa World article includes the following amazing details of Tilton's current status:
More than 10 years after his ministry collapsed in scandal, Robert Tilton is reaching millions of television viewers with his pitches for money, living comfortably in south Florida and maintaining a connection with Tulsa.
Far from shrinking into obscurity, Tilton is reaping millions from his mailing list
and daily shows on Black Entertainment Television. He has formed two companies, bought
a 50-
Another version of the story, from the Dallas Observer
An update on Tilton’s recent activities in 2009 from the Dallas Morning News
An excerpt:
Today, Tilton plies his trade on a Web site called streamingfaith.com. On the daily
one-
Like any minister, he says he will pray for his donors and ask God to relieve their problems. But he is careful not to promise that their donations will work a miracle such as curing a loved one's illness.
Mr. Tilton, whose Web site says he has authored 25 books, currently is offering a free edition of How to Pay Your Bills Supernaturally.
Tilton still appears on cable's Black Entertainment Network, or BET, at 3 a.m. Mondays with reruns or new editions of Success N Life.
Ole Anthony, an East Dallas preacher who has watchdogged Tilton for years, said he is not surprised the old television warrior climbed aboard the Web.
"It's just another way for him to keep making those outlandish promises," said Anthony, founder of the Trinity Foundation and archenemy of Tilton. "And to replenish his mailing list with fresh names and addresses."
Tilton, who will turn 63 on June 7, also continues to reinvent his personal life
in Florida. He and his 49-
The couple presented the girls on Tilton's Web site in April and let viewers watch them scuttle around the television studio for a few minutes before launching into their "prosperity" sermon.
"Yes, Bob changes diapers," Maria told viewers
V
Televangelist specializing in End Times Prophecy speculations. Van Impe prides himself
on the amount of scripture he has committed to memory-
Two areas of concern which critics have about Van Impe's ministry:
1. His propensity to strong speculation on specific timing of the Second Coming: he has proposed numerous dates over the past three decades. In the early 1970s, he insisted that the Russians were going to conquer America by 1976. As with most bold prophecy speculators, the failure of that speculation didn't cause him to miss a beat. He came back year after year with fresh speculations. By 1999 he was predicting that Christ would return some time between 2001 and 2012. He always claims, as do most bold prophecy speculators, that he isn't a "prophet" in the Biblical sense, but that his speculations are based on Bible study and insight from God. Unfortunately, also like most bold prophecy speculators, those who are enamored of his ministry ignore the numerous failures in his speculations and continue to view him as a "prophecy expert" ... even though almost none of the details of any of his speculations have ever panned out.
Click here for Transcripts of several Van Impe programs in which he speculates strongly on just how imminent the Return of Christ is, coming very close to "setting a date" a number of times. It also provides documentation on several areas of concern about his teachings
And here is an article that chronicles a number of strong speculations made by Van Impe, starting in 1976.
2. His surprising about-
"We [Roman Catholics & himself] agree on the great fundamentals of the faith, ...I've been reading the Catholic Catechism, 2,865 points, backed with 5,000 to 6,000 verses of Scripture. This is the Word of God. Of course there are some things where I don't agree. But I find many of these things in our Protestant churches as well. But this thing blessed my heart. This piece of literature, saturated with the precious Word of God." (12/94 tape)
W
Key figure in the "Church Growth Movement"and major player in Charismatic circles promoting power evangelism, spiritual warfare, signs and wonders, modern apostles and prophets, and more. Wagner was formerly Professor of Church Growth at the School of World Mission at Fuller Theological Seminary. He coined the term Third Wave. He was at one time a close associate of Vineyard founder John Wimber, and he and Wimber created the Fuller course on "Signs, Wonders and Church Growth" which has impacted churches all over the world.
Documentation:
An interesting collection of quotes from Wagner on a variety of controversial topics
Former minister with the Worldwide Church of God under its founder Herbert W Armstrong. Weinland incorporated The Church of God–Preparing for the Kingdom of God denomination in 2000, and began attempting to establish a name for himself as a “prophetic voice.” In 2005 he declared to his small group of followers that he was one of the Two Witnesses described in the book of Revelation. (In time he announced that his wife was the other one.) In 2006 he announced that the Great Tribulation would start in 2008, and wrote a book about his timeline which he promoted widely on the Web. When that didn’t pan out, he wasn’t slowed for a moment. By fall 2009 he announced that he was also an Apostle, and then a month later that he was also the final embodiment of the Bible’s prediction of an “Elijah to Come.”
He has continued to shift his timeline for the End. As of summer 2011 he seems to be insisting Jesus will return in May 2012. This doesn’t leave much time for a Tribulation (which he seemed to used to think was going to last for 3 ½ years) but as usual this hasn’t deterred him. Inexplicably, he still has followers, who sacrifice to support his megalomania.
Click on Weinland’s name above for a more details on his ministry in the Field Guide WCG Family Tree.
Author of the book 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be In 1988. Although many, many others had set dates for the return of Christ, going clear back to the earliest centuries AD, Whisenant was one of the first to be particularly successful in the 20th century using very widespread media efforts to call attention to his claims. Others have since topped him, but his name, and particularly the name of his 88 Reasons book, are still proverbial in prophecy circles. (Click on Whisenant's name for an extended profile. )
(1827-
(1931-
At one time he was most well-
Unfortunately, many if not most of his dogmatic prophetic claims failed to come to
pass as predicted. This would include the claims in His 1973 book The Vision, in
which he shared what he claimed was a direct, divine vision from the Lord of soon-
(1934-
Source material for further information
(1933-
A variety of his claims are examined in specific detail in the major profile on Wyatt in this Field Guide. Click on Wyatt's name above to go to that profile.
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Careful effort has been made to give credit as clearly as possible to any specific material quoted or ideas extensively adapted from any one resource. Corrections and clarifications regarding citations for any source material are welcome, and will be promptly added to any sections which are found to be inadequately documented as to source.
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