Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Mr. (Dr. Prof.) Daniell's "Bible in English:" Ch. 1-2


          Daniell, David.  The Bible in English: Its History and Influence. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003. http://www.amazon.com/The-Bible-English-History-Influence/dp/0300099304/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385668294&sr=8-1&keywords=david+daniell+english+bible
1.      Introduction, pages 1ff.
To many, the Bible is “ridiculous irrelevance.” To others, varied course syllabi “have made men hostile to the Word of God.” For Christians, the Bible is “the Word of God” with the story of “the forgiving, redeeming and regenerating work of Jesus, the `Word made flesh.’” But, it began to be felt by “senior clergy in Rome (though not in the East, dominated by Constantinople), that ordinary people were not capable of understanding a book as complicated as the Bible” (9).  It was “too sacred to be touched by any but the most learned” (10). The Cathars of southern Franc, the Hussites of Bohemia, and the Lollards of England were “blocked by the increasing power of the Pope.”  The Greeks saw the hubris of Rome and were never amused by the claim to universal supremacy. The Reformation can be summarized: “the people reading Paul.” As a result of the English Reformation, there were 10 separate versions/editions of the English Bible from Tyndale’s to the 1611 KJV—compared to 2 editions in Germany, Luther’s in 1522 and another in 1600. There were 2 vernacular versions in France over the same period, but, as always, unlike Germany and England, never intended for the populace. The Bible was not to be “locked up,” like the Italians accomplished from Wycliffe’s times in 1380 to the 1970s, the very work of Anti-Christ himself, that foul devil.
PART 1: BEFORE PRINTING, pages 17ff.
2.      The Bible in Britain from the Earliest Times to AD 850, pages 19-48.
Mr. Daniell discusses Aldred, Old English, the Latin Bible in England, Jerome, the period after Jerome, Christian England, the mission from Rome, Celtic missions, the “Gospel Books,” Bede, Caedmon, Bible knowledge in Saxon times, and the Gothic Bible by bishop Ulfilas.
Lindisfarne Gospels
 
Lindisfarne Gospels.  It’s an early, large, elaborately decorated and medieval text produced by Eadfrith in c. AD 698 to c. AD 720ish on Lindisfarne, northeastern England, a missionary, educational, academic and monastic center.  AD 698 is the terminus a quo and 721 the terminus ad quem, the date of Eadfrith’s death. Lindisfarne was founded by Aidan in 625, not terribly long after Mr. (Canterbury) Augustine the Lesser arrived in 597ish.  The Gospels were requested by the King Edwin, King of Northumbria.  The Rule of Benedict stressed reading, privately and communally.  There was a high demand for such books.
Aldred.  Between AD 946—968, he provided “glosses” of Latin with running English translations in the Northumbrian dialect.  The four Gospels were included with the Psalter.  But, 100 years before this, the Psalter had been “glossed” in the Mercian dialect.  These were used in the monastery and collegiate church. Mr. Daniell, cryptically, notes without development that vernacular versions were also in use on the Continent.  By the 1380s, Mr. Daniell notes that the Lollards’ Bible was widespread (230 manuscripts which survived the repression of the 1401 Act of De Haeretico Comburendo and Canterbury Arundel’s 1409 Constitutions of repression; 230 surviving to this day compared to 60 of Chaucer’s).  By the 1520s with Tyndale circulating covertly, “large numbers of men, women and children,” like Europe itself, were reading the whole Bible.  
Old English.  Old English ranges from AD 450 to 1150. The language was brought by the Angles, Saxons and Jutes.  There were 3 dialects: Wessex (south and west), Mercia (the midlands) and Northumbria (northeast and north of the Humber River).  The language merged with the French that had come with William the Conqueror in 1066.  While Old English continued, it fused with the dominant French language.  By 1450, Middle English developed, something that is still recognizable to English readers today.
Christian England.  By 200, Tertullian of Carthage, northern Africa, would state that the Gospel was firmly entrenched: Britannorum inaccessa Romanis locis, or, “places of the British not approached by the Romans.” As such, the Gospel must have, inferably, been taught to native speakers (not in Latin either and not with Pentecostalist gibberizing). The story of Alban in the early 3rd century survives: a Roman officer, converted himself, hiding a Presbyter, and offering himself in the place of the discovered Presbyter. Alban dies; a church was built there and visited by a French bishop in AD 427.  Furthermore, three bishops from London, York and Colchester attend the Council of Arles in 314, a council to deal with Donatism and the schism amongst the north African churches.  Patrick, AD 390-460, is in the church annals. Pelagius, a British product, was Augustine’s antagonist in the late 4th century.
Mission from Rome.  After the Romans pulled out, a power vacuum developed, and the Angles, Saxons and Jutes invaded. Christianity suffered.  By Gregory the Great’s time, England was viewed as “pagan and barbaric, worshipping stocks and stones.”  According to Bede, Gregory was moved by the presence of English slave-boys in Rome.  As an aside, it is noteworthy that the Imperial center of power had moved from Rome to Constantinople (along with the elites); further, it is noteworthy that varied invasions of Italy had further reduced Italy to a shell of its former self; furthermore, the city of Rome, once populated by about 1,000,000 in Paul’s time, had been reduced to about 60,000 by Gregory the Great’s time (cf. Gibbon’s Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire). So, one beggar, Gregory the Great, noteworthy in several respects, organizes a mission to England.  Augustine the Lesser, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, arrived in England in AD 597ish with 40 assistants.
Augustine the Lesser.  Augustine was successful with the conversion of King Aethelbert and his Frankish wife, their seat of power being located in Canterbury.  Gregory the Great would crow that within 1 year, 10,000 baptisms had been registered in southern England. Augustine established York and Canterbury (at this point, we have some questions for Mr. Daniell, but we’ll press onwards). Bp. Paulius at York was successful in seeing the King of Northumbria converted (only and exclusively by God’s grace).  But, the political disorders were common.  Between the Romans’ departure and the Conqueror’s arrival in AD 1066, there were 200 kings. Notably, the Synod of Whitby, AD 664, was the final arrangement that finalized Italy’s dominion in England, not to be broken until the English Reformation (although there were plenty of chest-pounding between the English state and the Romanist-church-state).
Theodore of Tarsus. AD 669—690. He became an Archbishop of Canterbury.  He came via Antioch, Constantinople and Rome; he was fluent in several languages. He was learned; he attracted students.  Yet, Rome controlled Canterbury for the next 900 years. Educational and academic centers would be established, Monksearmouth in AD 674 and Jarrow in AD 681.  Jarrow would nurture Bede, a man who had the entire Psalter memorized (and he wasn’t alone).
Celtic missions.  Western islands were evangelized by Celtic missionaries. Also, as Mr. Daniell tells it, they sent “missionaries to the darkness of Continental Europe.” As an aside, I’ve enjoyed joking with some (serious, Confessional) Lutheran friends that England gave the Gospel to the Germans in the 7th-8th centuries;  Luther obliged and sent the Gospel back to England in the 16th century; as always, God worked the details of His eternal plans for individuals, families, cities, churches and nations—He does so with infinite ease. Iona evangelized the north and west of England. From Iona in the west, Aidan in AD 635 founded Lindisfarne, noted above, a center for the energetic evangelization of northeastern England.
Gospel Books.  Lest one think the Lindisfarne Gospels are alone or unique; it is not. There is the “Book of Armagh,” dated about AD 800, an instrument for use with the Irish. Similarly, the “Book of Kells,” c. AD 750 to c. AD 850, was used in Ireland. In short, the complete English Bible was published in England before AD 700.  The Codex Grandior of Cassiodorus was brought from Italy to Northumbria and at least three copies were put into Old English.  Two of those copies, made at the scriptorium of Jarrow, were put in the church “for anyone to read.”  This tells one something about English scholarship of this time.   The Codes Aureus was put forth in Kent, again, in Old English. Boniface (c. AD 650 to c. AD 750) notes that manuscript productions were occurring in southern England and that other Christian literature, patristic commentaries and Bible studies were circulating in England and Ireland.
Venerable Bede. His History of the English Church and People was written at Jarrow c. AD 731. He told stories about the Churchmanship and ministries of Patrick, David, Augustine, Ninian and Columba. Bede was influenced by the historical labors of Eusebius of Caesarea and Gregory of Tours.
Bible Knowledge in Anglo-Saxon Times.  Among the learned, it was “moderately wide knowledge.”  The Life of Gregory the Great cited quotations from the Psalter and 7 OT books. The Life of Saint Guthlac (AD 730-740) had 35 direct quotations. Bede’s Life of St. Cuthbert abounded and was rich with Biblical references. Bede’s knowledge was “wide and deep.”  He had access to the entire Bible.  He died in AD 735. Viking raids disrupted English life.  Lindisfarne was sacked in AD 793.

(News Roundup/Full Coverage): TBN's Crouch Leaves This World

Full coverage

Paul Crouch, founder of Trinity Broadcasting Network, dies at 79

Los Angeles Times - ‎2 hours ago‎
Paul Crouch, a pioneering televangelist who founded Trinity Broadcasting Network, the world's largest Christian TV network, died today, according to the network's website. He was 79. The church reported in October that Crouch had fallen ill and was taken to ...
 
NPR (blog) - ‎1 hour ago‎
Paul Crouch, who along with his wife Jan, founded a TV network that went on to become the largest Christian television network in the world, died on Saturday, the network announced. Trinity Broadcasting Network said it is believed that he died from on-going ...

TBN Founder Paul Crouch Dies at Age 79 After Chronic Heart Problems

Christian Post - ‎3 hours ago‎
TBN's official Facebook page later released the announcement about Crouch's death: "Dr Paul F Crouch passed into the presence of the Lord on November 30, 2013. We are grateful for the life of this amazing servant of God. Please pray for the Crouch family ...

TBN Founder Paul Crouch Dies at 79

Newsmax.com - ‎31 minutes ago‎
Paul Crouch, who co-founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network in 1973, died early Saturday at age 79. "We are grateful for the life of this amazing servant of God," said an announcement on TBN's website. "Please pray for the Crouch family during this time."

Trinity Broadcasting Network Founder Paul Crouch Dead at 79

Variety - ‎6 minutes ago‎
Paul Crouch, a pioneering televangelist and founder of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, died Saturday. He was 79 and had been in failing health. TBN has endured since its founding in 1973 and remains one of the world's most widely distributed Christian ...

Paul Crouch, Sr. TBN founder dies at 79

Examiner.com - ‎1 hour ago‎
Paul Franklin Crouch, co-founder of Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), is dead at age 79, reported his grandson Brandon Crouch on Saturday, November, 30, 2013, according to the Christian Post. He leaves behind, wife, Jan Crouch, and sons, Paul Crouch...

Trinity Broadcasting Network co-founder Paul Crouch dies

kfor.com - ‎1 hour ago‎
Paul F. Crouch, co-founder of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, died Saturday at age 79, according to his website and the network's Facebook page. “We are grateful for the life of this amazing servant of God. Please pray for the Crouch family during this time,” ...

Paul Crouch, co-founder of Christian television network TBN dies at 79

Examiner.com - ‎1 hour ago‎
The co-founder of leading Christian television network TBN has died. Paul Crouch passed away today, November 30 at age 79. Crouch had been hospitalized for some time with heart problems. Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) is known as the world's ...

Paul Crouch, Founder of Trinity Broadcast Network (TBN), Dies at 79

Gospel Herald - ‎2 hours ago‎
Paul Crouch, Televangelist and founder of Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), passed away today at age 79. A statement posted on PaulCrouch.com states: "Dr. Paul F. Crouch passed into the presence of the Lord on November 30, 2013. We are grateful for ...

Controversial TBN Founder Paul Crouch Dies at 79

Christian News Network - ‎28 minutes ago‎
Dr. Paul F. Crouch, the controversial founder of the global Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) has died. He was 79. Crouch was born in 1934 in St. Joseph, Missouri and was the son of Assemblies of God missionaries. His father died when he was just seven ...

TBN founder Paul Crouch dead at 79

WND.com - ‎37 minutes ago‎
Born in St. Joseph, Mo., on March 30, 1934, to Assemblies of God missionaries, Paul Crouch would later co-found TBN, which today has become America's most watched faith network and the seventh largest group owner of broadcast TV stations in the U.S..

Paul F. Crouch, founder of Trinity Broadcast Network, dies at age 79

abc7.com - ‎1 hour ago‎
Trinity Broadcasting Network released the following statement Saturday: "Dr. Paul F. Crouch passed into the presence of the Lord on November 30, 2013. We are grateful for the live of this amazing servant of God. Please pray for the Crouch family during this ...

Trinity Broadcast Network Founder Paul Franklin Crouch Dies at 79 (March 30 ...

Crossmap - ‎1 hour ago‎
Dr. Crouch began his career in broadcasting by helping to build an educational AM station (KCBI-AM) on campus while a student at Central Bible Institute and Seminary. In 1957 he became a radio announcer at KRSD (AM), Rapid City, South Dakota and ...

Televangelist and TBN Founder Paul Crouch Dead at 79

Christian Post (blog) - ‎4 hours ago‎
Brandon Crouch reported the death of his grandfather, Trinity Broadcasting Network founder Paul Crouch, on Twitter and Instagram. TBN has posted an announcement to its Facebook page and a bio on its website. This blog post will be updated as more ...

Televangelist Paul Crouch, Founder Of Trinity Broadcasting Network, Dies At 79

CBS Local - ‎49 minutes ago‎
COSTA MESA (CBSLA.com) — Paul Crouch, a renowned televangelist who founded Trinity Broadcasting Network, died Saturday at 79, according to the network's website. The son of a Missouri preacher moved to Orange County, where he parlayed an ...

Paul Crouch, Founder of TBN/Titan of American Christianity, Dead

OC Weekly (blog) - ‎4 hours ago‎
Word is spreading around Christendom that Paul Crouch, the Missouri native who moved to Southern California with his wife Jan to create Trinity Broadcasting Network, the largest Christian television network in the world, has passed away at age 79. He had ...

TD Jakes: Paul Crouch was a Giant Amongst Men whose Trail Blazed Television ...

Crossmap - ‎1 hour ago‎
T.D. Jakes: Paul Crouch was a Giant Amongst Men whose Trail Blazed Television Ministry for the 21st Century. By T.D. Jakes On November 30, 2013. Paul F Crouch. Text size: Small · Medium · Large. Email; Share · Print; Comment. Tweet. If you felt the ...

Trinity Broadcast Network founder dies at age 79

OCRegister (subscription) - ‎2 minutes ago‎
The religious empire based inside the iconic white palace known for illuminating Costa Mesa nights has lost its king: founder of Trinity Broadcast Network Paul Crouch whose death was announced Saturday. Crouch had been hospitalized in Texas a month ...

GEB America Celebrates the Life of TBN Co-Founder Paul Crouch, Sr.

Christian News Wire (press release) - ‎50 minutes ago‎
30, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- The entire GEB America Television Network family is thankful for the life and ministry of Trinity Broadcasting Network Co-Founder Paul Crouch, Sr. who passed away today. "The ministry of Paul Crouch, Sr. is truly remarkable," ...

(NPR): TBN Founder Dead

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/11/30/247959496/paul-crouch-co-founder-of-trinity-broadcasting-network-dies

Paul Crouch, Co-Founder Of Trinity Broadcasting Network, Dies  



Paul Crouch, who along with his wife Jan, founded a TV network that went on to become the largest Christian television network in the world, died on Saturday, the network announced.

Trinity Broadcasting Network said it is believed that he died from on-going heart problems. He was 79.

      

YouTube
 
If Crouch's name doesn't ring bell, his image surely will. You may have caught him hosting the two-hour variety show Praise the Lord, along with his wife, who is known for her big, pink hair and dramatic makeup.

Quoting a book chronicling the network, The Los Angeles Times reports that by the mid-1980s, TBN was "the country's most-watched religious network."

The Orange County Weekly paints a mixed picture of Crouch. In its obit, the weekly calls him both a "titan of American Christianity" and a man who spent the hard earned money of his working-class viewers with little regard.

Crouch also became a pioneer in what's called the "prosperity gospel," which essentially holds that God wants his followers to be rich.

During the past couple of years, Crouch's family has been haunted by sensational scandals about their wealth.

The New York Times ran a long piece about it in which they chronicle the couple's two sets of luxury homes, the secrecy surrounding the millions they received in donations (they received $93 million in 2010) and the family's struggle to keep control of the empire.

As part of the story, the Times interviewed Crouch's grandaughter, Brittany Koper, who was fired for allegedly stealing $1.3 million, but who also opened up about what she said were the company's financial improprieties. The Times reported:
"In two pending lawsuits and in her first public interview, Ms. Koper described company-paid luxuries that she said appeared to violate the Internal Revenue Service's ban on 'excess compensation' by nonprofit organizations as well as possibly state and federal laws on false bookkeeping and self-dealing.
"The lavish perquisites, corroborated by two other former TBN employees, include additional, often-vacant homes in Texas and on the former Conway Twitty estate in Tennessee, corporate jets valued at $8 million and $49 million each and thousand-dollar dinners with fine wines, paid with tax-exempt money.
"In the lawsuits and interviews, Ms. Koper, 26, also charges that TBN has spent millions of dollars in sweetheart deals with a commercial film company owned until recently by a son of the Crouches, Matthew, including poorly monitored investments made after he joined the TBN board in 2007.
"'My job as finance director was to find ways to label extravagant personal spending as ministry expenses,' Ms. Koper said. This is one way, she said, the company avoids probing questions from the I.R.S. She said that the absence of outsiders on TBN's governing board — currently consisting of Paul, Janice and Matthew Crouch — had led to a serious lack of accountability for spending."
On his website, Crouch is described as an "amazing servant of God."

His official biography says that, today, Crouch's network reaches every major continent and over 18,000 TV and cable affiliates around the world. The cable company even has a service in Spanish, Arabic and Farsi, as well as a cable channel in Asia, Europe and Russia.

His bio goes on:
"Dr. Crouch and TBN have been the recipients of numerous awards and citations of appreciation by both local and national leaders including the Golden Angel award from the Excellence in Media organization and the Parents Television Council Entertainment Seal of Approval, given to both the TBN and Smile of a Child networks for producing and promoting positive, pro-family programming. Dr. Crouch was also appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the Private Sector Initiative Project."

(LA Times): TBN-Word-of-Faith Healer, Crouch Sr., Cold Dead

Paul Crouch, founder of Trinity Broadcasting Network, dies at 79

crouch
Televangelist Paul Crouch, seen here giving a sermon in 1988, has died. (Los Angeles Times / November 30, 2013)            
                          
 




Paul Crouch, a pioneering televangelist who founded Trinity Broadcasting Network, the world’s largest Christian TV network, died today, according to the network's website. He was 79.

The church reported in October that Crouch fell ill and was taken to a Dallas-area hospital in October while on a visit to a TBN facility in Colleyville, Texas. He had "heart and related health issues," the church said, and was later returned to California for continued treatment.

The son of a Missouri missionary, Crouch moved to California in the early 1960s to manage the movie and television unit of the Assemblies of God. A decade later, after receiving what he believed was a message from God, he began to buy television stations, cable channels and satellites and developed enough Christian programming to sustain a 24-hour network.

By the mid-1980s, Orange County-based TBN was “the country’s most-watched religious network,” according to J. Gordon Melton and Jon R. Stone in their book “Prime-Time Religion: An Encyclopedia of Religious Broadcasting.”

With his bubbly wife Jan, Crouch anchored TBN’s flagship program, “Praise the Lord,” a nightly two-hour talk show featuring guests, Scripture and entertainment. He was known for preaching a gospel of prosperity, imploring viewers to open their pocketbooks to further God’s works and reap spiritual and material blessings in return.

During four decades on air he often generated controversy, in particular because of the extravagant lifestyle he and his wife led. Critics complained that his jets, mansions and lavish expense-account meals were paid by tax-exempt donations from TBN’s legion of “prayer partners,” whose pledges enabled the network to surpass its rivals in size and global reach.

http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-televangelist-paul-crouch-who-founded-the-world-famous-trinity-broadcasting-network-dies-at-79-20131130,0,5660860.story#ixzz2mA7Ycx7v

(Christian Post): TBN's Faith-Healer Paul Crouch Dead

Paul Franklin Crouch, co-founder of Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), is dead at age 79, reported his grandson Brandon Crouch on Saturday.
"Today, my grandfather, #PaulCrouchSr went home to be with Jesus in heaven. Thank you for your prayers…" Brandon Crouch tweeted.

TBN's official Facebook page later released the announcement about Crouch's death: "Dr Paul F Crouch passed into the presence of the Lord on November 30, 2013. We are grateful for the life of this amazing servant of God. Please pray for the Crouch family during this time. #paulcrouch #tbn"

Crouch was born March 30, 1934 in St. Joseph, Mo., and is the son of Assemblies of God missionaries. His father died when he was seven-years-old, and he was raised by his mother and grandparents. He has a degree in theology from Central Bible Institute and Seminary in Springfield, Mo., and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla., among other honorary doctorates.

He met his wife, Janice Bethany Crouch, in 1957 and they married in Missouri. They have two sons: Paul Crouch Jr. and Matthew Crouch.

Crouch Sr., co-founder along with his wife, Jan, of the world's largest Christian-owned cable station, had been treated for chronic heart problems for over a decade and had received a pacemaker in 2012, TBN revealed earlier this year.
 

Crouch was hospitalized on Oct. 22 in Dallas, Texas, and returned home to California in early November. On Nov. 5, TBN released a statement by TBN attorney and spokesman Colby May that said doctors had taken Crouch off the ventilator and he was breathing on his own.

Two years earlier in September 2011, Crouch was also hospitalized for congestive heart failure. It was during this time that Crouch allegedly wrote a letter identifying that he wanted his son Matthew Crouch to take over the position of president of TBN. Then Paul Crouch Jr., who was presumed the heir of TBN, suddenly announced in October 2011 that he would leave TBN to pursue other ministry opportunities.

In recent years, the Crouch and TBN have been embroiled in family lawsuits, with their granddaughter Brittany Koper, former director of finance and human resources, filing a lawsuit saying that the family was distributing more than $50 million for luxury goods, such as jets, estates, and vehicles, to company directors. When Koper refused to keep quiet about the illegal money use, she was fired and allegedly threatened with physical and lethal violence. Her uncle, Joseph McVeigh, who never worked for TBN, filed another lawsuit against TBN at the Orange County Superior Court in early 2012, saying that TBN was maliciously targeting him as part of a "campaign of retaliation" against Koper.

With TBN officially announcing Crouch Sr.'s death on its Facebook page, within less than 20 minutes of the posting there were more than 450 comments, pledging to pray for the Crouch family and offering condolences.

"My prayers are with Jan and everyone in the family. So sad b/c I thought he was doing better. Now he is doing MUCH better. He opened his eyes to see Jesus! WOW!" posted someone identified as Kathy Boulter.

While someone identified as Apostle Doreen Thornton wrote, "Dr. Paul Crouch is loved and will be missed, he was an amazing obedient servant that gave God all that he had, and I am sure great is his reward. God bless the Crouch family you are in my prayers."

And a Jefferson Elicerio Viloria posted, "I really admired this guy..he had his critics, though, although not perfect, and who is, i regard him as a true man of God. I will miss him because i always enjoyed his enthusiasm on TV....God bless the Crouch family."

(OC Register): TBN's Paul Crouch Dies--"An Ass of a Man"

 
Crouch, Founder of TBN/Titan of American Christianity, Dead




Thumbnail image for paul_crouch_middle_finger.jpg
Crouch, in the Holy Land, with his Gospel

 
Word is spreading around Christendom that Paul Crouch, the Missouri native who moved to Southern California with his wife Jan to create Trinity Broadcasting Network, the largest Christian television network in the world, has passed away at age 79. He had been hospitalized recently for heart problems.
The news was announced by his grandson, Brandon Crouch, on Twitter.
 
See also:
 
 
Southern Californians knew Crouch and his big-haired wife for decades for their histrionics on Channel 40 (or was it 44? Or 46?) and their continued demand for viewers to give them money in what's known as the prosperity gospel, the idea that God will give money to those who give money. And Orange Countians will forever know TBN for their garish headquarters just across South Coast Plaza (the one that had "Happy Birthday Jesus!" in lights 365 days a year forever), a marriage of God and Mammon no Hollywood screenwriter could ever imagine. It's this garishness that made it easy for the public to dismiss Crouch's influence, but he will go down in the history of Christianity as someone as crucial to spreading the Gospel worldwide as fellow OCer Charles E. Fuller--for Fuller, of course, it was radio, while Crouch found his success with TV.

Of course, like his fellow recently deceased OC Christianity titan Chuck Smith, Crouch was also an ass of a man.


Dr Paul F Crouch passed into the presence of the Lord on November 30, 2013. We are grateful for the life of this amazing servant of God. Please pray for the Crouch family during this time. ‪#‎paulcrouch‬ ‪#‎tbn
 
While Crouch tried to pass himself off as a kindly old grandfather, his profligate spending over the decades while constantly exhorting viewers--overwhelmingly working-class--to give more and more money (we can't emphasize this enough, just like him) was downright disgusting, and TBN's defense of on-air personality Steve Galiher, who got a wrist slap for driving while drunk on his way to TBN headquarters (in the process crashing into a Vietnam War vet who never recovered from his injuries) was simply vile. And who can forget the scandal unearthed by former Los Angeles Times reporter William Lobdell that essentially outed Crouch as a closet homosexual, a scandal so buried in OC court records as to essentially be unethical?


Crouch spent the last years of his life fighting off a lawsuit from his granddaughters alleging that TBN had become an incestuous, corrupt den of thieves. It's going to be one hell of a funeral, no?

 


Televangelist-TBN Founder Paul Crouch Dead at 79


http://blogs.christianpost.com/time-for-everything/televangelist-and-tbn-founder-paul-crouch-dead-at-79-19015/

Televangelist and TBN Founder Paul Crouch Dead at 79

Brandon Crouch reported the death of his grandfather, Trinity Broadcasting Network founder Paul Crouch, on Twitter and Instagram.

TBN has posted an announcement to its Facebook page.

This blog post will be updated as more information becomes available.

Paul Crouch and Jim Bakker founded TBN in 1973. Earlier this year the network celebrated its 40th anniversary. TBN would become the world's largest religious network.

Paul left behind wife Janice Bethany Crouch and sons Paul Crouch Jr and Matthew Crouch. Paul's granddaughters Brittany Crouch Koper and Carra Crouch are involved in litigation with the network.