Robert Tilton AKA Pastor Gas

"We've seen midgets grow..."

It's late, so I'll start with the funny. But damn, this guy was raking in some $80,000,000 per year in his old TV telethon 'ministry'. He was eventually exposed as a total FRAUD, and later in the Youtube era became the subject of various parody videos. But the better history is how back in the VHS era, some devious parody artists got a hilarious little ordeal of a comedy tape circulating of the then big shot of TV gospel. In the annals of satire to in the days of VCR's get something going on par with todays Youtube / meme culture going in those backwards times really was something. And irony abounds, as imagine his cultish followers responses to such a thing back in his day, yet some year later he'd be exposed as the ultimate crook, Behold, Pastor Gas AKA the Farting Preacher.

In 1985, two men began distributing a video they compiled lampooning Tilton and his ostensible conversations with God. The video exploits Tilton's facial expressions and preaching style. The original video contained no title screen and was roughly edited. The video featured a medley of footage from Success-N-Life overdubbed with well-timed sound effects of flatulence. Unofficial VHS copies of the video circulated in the United States through the late 1980s under such titles as Tooting Tilton, Heaven Only Knows (the first title by the original distributors), Pastor Gas, The Joyful Noise, and The Farting Preacher. After the hosts of The Mark & Brian Show, a radio program in Los Angeles, mentioned the video on the air, the video's authors saw the market potential and began selling official copies of their creation. Similar videos have since been made with more recent footage of Tilton and are distributed throughout the Internet, all under the Farting Preacher name. The video distribution (including digital bootlegs distributed online) expanded public awareness of Tilton and his controversial television ministry.
en.wikipedia.org...

The gassy plot would eventually go on to thicken into solid turds...

Valentine, a former Miss Tallahassee, Florida, further explains why Tilton felt compelled to use disguises in 1995 but probably doesn't anymore, and why, despite having spent $6,000 on private detectives in Texas and Florida, she has no idea where her husband is right now.

"We would go to restaurants here in Dallas, and people would give us the finger," she says. "People would scream at us on the street. It was incredible. Bob hated Dallas, and the more he hated Dallas, the more he loved Florida. He said Fort Lauderdale was like his cloak of invisibility. Nobody would ever find him there. No one recognized him. He could wear shorts and Hawaiian shirts all day and do whatever he wanted."

Apropos of nothing, Valentine announces she's "doing a book and movie deal" (working title: The Dark Side of the Cross). Later, over coffee, she says she hopes any story resulting from tonight's interview will ignore her drunk-driving arrest last month, which occurred after she broadsided another motorist at a Dallas intersection.

It would be nice if she were described as 39 years of age instead of 41, she notes. "And call me Leigh Valentine, not Leigh Valentine Tilton," she says. "I don't know how I got myself into this mess. I mean, I'm the daughter of a surgeon. I wish I'd never heard the name Tilton."
www.forgottenword.org...

Where are they now? Tilton 25 years later

So, eventually he was outed, but a decade later the suckers were still lining up to inhale those bad farts...

Robert Tilton: From downfall to windfall: Living on a prayer
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-foot yacht and purchased a $1.3 million piece of oceanfront property in Miami Beach through his company, records show.

And although Tilton's downfall began when prayer requests sent to him were thrown away in Tulsa trash Dumpsters, prayer requests sent to his Tulsa post office box two years ago were apparently still being discarded. A woman who spent two days opening mail to Tilton told the Tulsa World that she and other workers were instructed to remove the cash and checks and throw away the letters and prayer requests written to Tilton.

Tilton did not return calls seeking comment. In a letter to the Tulsa World, he wrote: "For years, we have taken great care to assure that all prayer requests are delivered to me personally and prayed over by me. Written instructions are always given with each communication by this ministry to ensure that prayer requests are to come to me personally."

For everyone that got scammed by this huckster, at least they might have eventually gotten some retribution ala lulz (because sometimes that's the only 'payback' we get short of violence and destruction)...

These people are created by lazy Christians who don't understand the faith they claim
These christians think they can buy their way into heaven

S&F

This guy is is prime reason I do not believe in any organized religion.

Just like the 7th Day Adventist who require a 10% tithe from their believers.

originally posted by: RickinVa
S&F

This guy is is prime reason I do not believe in any organized religion.

Just like the 7th Day Adventist who require a 10% tithe from their believers.

Can you show me in the New Testament where a 10% tithe is required by God to be a christian
I think you think you know more than you actually do

originally posted by: RickinVa
S&F

This guy is is prime reason I do not believe in any organized religion.

Just like the 7th Day Adventist who require a 10% tithe from their believers.

So you let one guy or a cult convince you that ALL religion is the reason to NOT believe? You sound like the majority here at ATS. You will fit in just fine.....

BTW 10% tithe is in that book you consider a myth called the bible.

a reply to: Raggedyman

"Tithe" means a tenth or 10 percent. The tithing system described in the Bible was designed specifically to meet the needs of the religious, economic and political system of ancient Israel. Each of the twelve tribes of Israel, except the tribe of Levi, initially received an allotment of land in the promised land of Canaan. The Levites were assistants to Israel's priests and were supported by a tithe offering from other eleven tribes. All families of those eleven tribes were to give a tenth of all produce, flocks, and cattle to the Levites. In turn, the Levites were to give a tenth of that to support the priests (Leviticus 27:30-33, Numbers 18:21-28). Tithes were also used to meet the needs of foreigners, orphans and widows. (Deuteronomy 26:12-13)

originally posted by: DeathSlayer
a reply to: Raggedyman

"Tithe" means a tenth or 10 percent. The tithing system described in the Bible was designed specifically to meet the needs of the religious, economic and political system of ancient Israel. Each of the twelve tribes of Israel, except the tribe of Levi, initially received an allotment of land in the promised land of Canaan. The Levites were assistants to Israel's priests and were supported by a tithe offering from other eleven tribes. All families of those eleven tribes were to give a tenth of all produce, flocks, and cattle to the Levites. In turn, the Levites were to give a tenth of that to support the priests (Leviticus 27:30-33, Numbers 18:21-28). Tithes were also used to meet the needs of foreigners, orphans and widows. (Deuteronomy 26:12-13)

More!

Was the biblical tithe only 10%, or could it have been as much as 23 1/3%? Was there one tithe, two tithes, or three? A discussion of these questions was not originally part of this book until it became evident why only one answer is acceptable to most who teach New Covenant tithing.

Most casual readers of the Old Testament will conclude that there were at least two, and perhaps three, separate tithes, averaging either twenty or twenty three and one third percent (23 1/3%) per year, instead of only one ten (10%) percent tithe. For two thousand years theologians have been split over whether these were all separate tithes or somehow merged into either one or two tithes.

Charles Ryrie combines the second and third tithe into one. "Two tithes were required: an annual tithe for the maintenance of the Levites (Lev. 27:30; Num. 18:21) and a second tithe brought to Jerusalem for the Lord’s feasts (Deut. 14:22).

www.tithing-russkelly.com...

originally posted by: DeathSlayer
a reply to: Raggedyman

"Tithe" means a tenth or 10 percent. The tithing system described in the Bible was designed specifically to meet the needs of the religious, economic and political system of ancient Israel. Each of the twelve tribes of Israel, except the tribe of Levi, initially received an allotment of land in the promised land of Canaan. The Levites were assistants to Israel's priests and were supported by a tithe offering from other eleven tribes. All families of those eleven tribes were to give a tenth of all produce, flocks, and cattle to the Levites. In turn, the Levites were to give a tenth of that to support the priests (Leviticus 27:30-33, Numbers 18:21-28). Tithes were also used to meet the needs of foreigners, orphans and widows. (Deuteronomy 26:12-13)

Thanks I understand what the tithe is.
Strangely though...
I am not Jewish so don't come under any of the Old Testament laws

You got anything that may support christians paying 10%, you know, the New Testament, you know, Jesus, Paul, Luke, Mark, John, James et al
Judaism and christianity are two different covenants not to be confused