Nervous Laughter Podcast

Episode 101: Bibles & Balloons, They’re Magically Religious!

Episode Summary

We’re poppin’ off episode 101 with Peter Popoff to continue our televangelist series! Won’t you join us fatheads?!

Episode Notes

We’re poppin’ off episode 101 with Peter Popoff to continue our televangelist series! Won’t you join us fatheads?!

Write us some of your cringe stories at [nervouslaughterpodcast@gmail.com](mailto:nervouslaughterpodcast@gmail.com)

The socials: [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/nervouslaughterpodcast) | [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/NervousLaughterPodcast) | [Twitter](https://twitter.com/NervouslaughPod)

References:

Infomercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGuawSq6zDA

Instagram Ad: https://www.instagram.com/petergpopoff/reel/Cy6EyodtaH-/  

GQ Article: https://www.gq.com/story/peter-popoff-born-again-scoundrel

Dude opening mail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFQ0jO6gtQI&ab_channel=EEVblog2  

Article mostly referenced about the balloons: https://www.lyingforjesus.org/Peter-Popoff.php

Business Insider Article: https://www.businessinsider.com/scam-everlasting-after-25-years-debunked-faith-healer-still-preaching-debt-relief-scam-2011-9

Episode Transcription

Unknown Speaker  0:00  

Hey Alyssa. Guess what? What Jamie Lynn?

 

It's episode 101 over here.

 

get your hot dogs!

 

Unknown Speaker  0:34  

 get your hot dogs. We're back.

 

Unknown Speaker  0:39  

welcome to Nervous laughter I'm Jamie. 

 

I'm Alyssa. 

 

And we got more televangelists stuff for you today on this episode that we're not recording in the same day

 

Unknown Speaker  0:51  

it's a different blessed day. I feel the presence in this of the Lord here with us. Sister Jamie Lynn and I each want $800 to the church of Lynn, you too would be as blessed as we are. And you could be a brother or sister too. You can be true. You can be brother, Xavier Lynn.

 

Unknown Speaker  1:26  

Or sister Jessica Lynn. 

 

True.

 

Unknown Speaker  1:32  

But the person we're going to talk about today, it's not very Lynn like Oh, his name is Peter pop off.

 

Unknown Speaker  1:41  

I don't know if you've heard of him before. I'm gonna do a quick googs of his picture. Oh, yeah. look pretty. I feel like very recognized. Um, yeah, you may he's Yeah, he's been on the TV quite a lot. Oh, yeah. Did a scary infomercials and things like that. He looks like a guy that I'm gonna talk about later. Like, I feel like they could be brothers, but they're not how they all have like,

 

Unknown Speaker  2:10  

scary.

 

Unknown Speaker  2:12  

Scary guy. You wouldn't trust them.

 

Unknown Speaker  2:16  

Over your drink time guy.

 

Unknown Speaker  2:21  

So pop off started preaching in the early 60s He was referred to as the miracle boy, evangelist.

 

Unknown Speaker  2:29  

Boy, yeah.

 

Unknown Speaker  2:33  

Wow.

 

Unknown Speaker  2:36  

So yeah, he was that in newspapers, ads and stuff. And he claimed he was born in a bomb shelter in Berlin and was rescued from a Siberian prison camp.

 

Unknown Speaker  2:48  

That was probably a lie.

 

Unknown Speaker  2:51  

He claimed to have abilities to heal. And see, let's see and tell the future. In 1971, he married Elizabeth whom he settled in a miracle girl

 

Unknown Speaker  3:04  

met her miracle boy.

 

Unknown Speaker  3:07  

And a miracle love was born. They had their miracle life.

 

Unknown Speaker  3:13  

And they they both started broadcasting in the US in the early 80s.

 

Unknown Speaker  3:18  

He was the kind of healing preacher that would have people like, you know, getting out of their chairs and going crazy. Ditching their mobility aids. Fuck that, who Yeah, throw that cane in the oceans. And speaking in tongues and stuff, of course.

 

Unknown Speaker  3:35  

Just to just some of the testimonies from the website to see kind of get an idea of some of the claims.

 

Unknown Speaker  3:42  

Yesterday, I received a letter of over $45,000 and that my second mortgage was paid off. That sounds like

 

Unknown Speaker  3:51  

some of these will sound like things they went on and wrote themselves. It's like ones like

 

Unknown Speaker  3:58  

I have to confess that I am one of your biggest skeptics, and I was about ready to give up last May. But my spouse got a check for $50,000 that came in the mail and she gave me 15,000 to pay my loan. I don't know what to say. I still won't. It still won't sink in somehow. Thank you, Jesus. And miracle boy. Yeah, thank you miracle boy, girl.

 

Unknown Speaker  4:24  

I can't get over that. So

 

Unknown Speaker  4:27  

I love it and we're gonna call miracle boy.

 

Unknown Speaker  4:31  

So yeah, a lot of a lot of the testimonials are just like, you know,

 

Unknown Speaker  4:35  

one day my mortgage company canceled $46,000 of debt, you know, like they do? Yes. So what's the one there's just this one because it was funny. Where is it? I was in my dining room and I heard a sound at my door and when I went to the door I have not I didn't see anyone there. But there was a big brown envelope that was sitting at my doorway and when I picked it up, I saw my name and went inside.

 

Unknown Speaker  5:00  

I had when I looked inside it had $28,000

 

Unknown Speaker  5:07  

I feel like you need to fucking watch her back after.

 

Unknown Speaker  5:11  

That is my first thought. I'm like, Okay, if that actually happened if sounds sketchy, I would be terrified. Yeah, like I think that's kind of the plot and one of the seasons of Fargo like somebody Oh borrows money but they don't have the parameters of it setup so then when they're trying to repay it the person has all these like, really high expectations. Oh, yeah.

 

Unknown Speaker  5:39  

plot line I remember like the weird is Vegas parts of it that don't feel super related. It was season three. It was a really small part like the did you watch that one? I can't remember.

 

Unknown Speaker  5:55  

Well, was there something that was our dog that got killed?

 

Unknown Speaker  6:00  

I don't remember season three is when I yeah, I guess.

 

Unknown Speaker  6:05  

That's how I feel Fargo's camera, man. It's good, though. I remember I liked it when I watched it. I guess anyway, sorry, guys. This is so this is the

 

Unknown Speaker  6:16  

this is the miracle boy.

 

Unknown Speaker  6:18  

So

 

Unknown Speaker  6:21  

in 1985, our little miracle boy began a little TV fundraising thing. Oh, that's when carboy number three was born. Oh, cool. So he's American voice. Yeah.

 

Unknown Speaker  6:38  

And this project he was

 

Unknown Speaker  6:42  

constructing was to get Bibles into the Soviet Union. So the Communist Party could hear the good word of Lord. And Alyssa, do you want to guess what his scheme was to get these Bibles there? It's gonna be something really fucking down. Is there going to be like carrier pigeons drops off or some kind of closed? helium balloons? Oh, no.

 

Unknown Speaker  7:11  

helium balloons to bring Bibles over into

 

Unknown Speaker  7:16  

Russia. I mean, I'm not great with geography. But isn't that really far? I don't know if they plan to, like, go by the border and send them off or hire other people to do it. But they, they weren't going to buy these materials to do it.

 

Unknown Speaker  7:36  

So this was their idea what they were raising money for on this little TV program. Sounds great. I'll donate $5,000. That's perfect. Because it turned out to be a scam.

 

Unknown Speaker  7:50  

What? Really? Yeah.

 

Unknown Speaker  7:54  

It was found to be a scam when he was asked to provide proof

 

Unknown Speaker  7:59  

of the donations being spent on the Bibles and the balloons, oh, Bibles and balloons, which made me think heart stars and horseshoes. Bibles and bullets. Magically religious.

 

Unknown Speaker  8:13  

miracle boy.

 

Unknown Speaker  8:15  

There just happened to be a burglary at the headquarters where all this included? Oh, no worry. No. All those things that he could have proved that he bought it. Whoa. So somebody steal the evidence? Yeah, of course. So then, of course, in the following broadcasts, they needed more donations to help with the damages from the burglary and low things that were stolen. Yep.

 

Unknown Speaker  8:41  

The luck you gave me

 

Unknown Speaker  8:43  

I wish I

 

Unknown Speaker  8:45  

could give it paths that look on to you.

 

Unknown Speaker  8:49  

Something similar actually happens with somebody that I'm going to talk about.

 

Unknown Speaker  8:54  

Like a like a break in or the

 

Unknown Speaker  8:58  

the break in.

 

Unknown Speaker  9:01  

Yeah, always a breaking there's always a convenient thing about money going missing. Yeah. And I was up but it's not literal. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah, I think I remember. Yeah, yeah, it was pretty recent.

 

Unknown Speaker  9:17  

So this was so that was 1985. They started raising money for the balloons. And

 

Unknown Speaker  9:24  

in 1986 Popoff was exposed by my boyfriend. Oh, yay, James Randi.

 

Unknown Speaker  9:32  

Rip King. Um,

 

Unknown Speaker  9:36  

yeah, so here, sorry. In my notes, I'm just I'm just bragging and hyping up my boyfriend. But I already did that on the first episode.

 

Unknown Speaker  9:47  

So Oh, who do you mean Criss Angel, my boys. So anyways, Randy went to San Francisco to attend and investigate one of pop off shows along with a private investigator he hired

 

Unknown Speaker  10:00  

or tell ya, the investigator went undercover as a security guard with a tape recorder in radio scanner.

 

Unknown Speaker  10:08  

Upon tuning into the frequency 39.17 megahertz he heard God Yes, I know this one. Sighting sorry for freaking Oh no, you're just

 

Unknown Speaker  10:25  

kidding.

 

Unknown Speaker  10:26  

It was pop offs wife, Elizabeth, America cool girl, the miracle girl. She was chatting up with her miracle boy. And here is a part of that recording from the James Randi documentary and honest liar, which is a great documentary. You should check it out. Oh, hell yeah. And I will say there is some controversy with James Randi because he does.

 

Unknown Speaker  10:51  

He sins people basically in undercover who are magicians themselves to trick people and then reveal that they were tricked to be like, Look, you can be tricked.

 

Unknown Speaker  11:06  

Oh, I see. Because there was like studies at universities and stuff. And so he was like, No, this is stupid. Let me send those people and then people got mad because they were like, you're ruining the whole process. But anyway, here is the clip of our little miracle couple

 

Unknown Speaker  11:25  

on the job

 

Unknown Speaker  11:29  

Hello, Katie. Can you hear me? If you can't you're in trouble. Is it top off was being prompted by his wife through a wireless earpiece.

 

Unknown Speaker  11:45  

she'd gotten her information from prayer cards filled out by the faithful before the show began

 

Unknown Speaker  11:53  

to get

 

Unknown Speaker  11:55  

you want to get rid of this Walker sister

 

Unknown Speaker  12:01  

Oh, glory How long have you been walking on that? Walk?

 

Unknown Speaker  12:05  

Three years, three years

 

Unknown Speaker  12:08  

1627 1627 10 Street

 

Unknown Speaker  12:18  

burning this arthritis right out of your body.

 

Unknown Speaker  12:24  

Take a few steps just to make the devil mad. Hallelujah. Snitches move around a little bit. There she goes. Just walk with me. Oh, glory to God. She's not gonna need that Walker anymore. God's just

 

Unknown Speaker  12:36  

so yeah, so Wonder Girl was whispering to wonder boy about who was planted in the audience and who was gonna throw their cane into the air and be saved by the Holy Spirit? Yeah. And who would have thought yeah, they would have thought those people were planted and people would have never walked could just automatically walk.

 

Unknown Speaker  13:08  

So yeah, they had filled out

 

Unknown Speaker  13:10  

they had

 

Unknown Speaker  13:12  

basically just these prayer cards that people would fill out when they went in that had the names of you know, names address, you fill out whatever your you're there to pray for and stuff. And it has your seat number and everything too. So they've just made that communication and it's funny just looking at pop off while he's waiting for her to talk to him cuz just like, just like

 

Unknown Speaker  13:43  

just keep this act going.

 

Unknown Speaker  13:46  

That's so depressing, like,

 

Unknown Speaker  13:50  

so they're very shitty people.

 

Unknown Speaker  13:53  

Um,

 

Unknown Speaker  13:55  

but Randy took that recording with him on to the Jordan Carson Show in May of 1986 and exposed pop off live on television.

 

Unknown Speaker  14:09  

So this was kind of also like

 

Unknown Speaker  14:13  

well known thing my boyfriend did.

 

Unknown Speaker  14:18  

And, to to to to do a pop off tried claiming it wasn't a real recording and just an actress hired to voice his wife.

 

Unknown Speaker  14:29  

And

 

Unknown Speaker  14:31  

I took this little snip from Wikipedia just because I wanted to.

 

Unknown Speaker  14:36  

I don't know it just worded it well. In September 1987 Popoff declared bankruptcy

 

Unknown Speaker  14:43  

one year after.

 

Unknown Speaker  14:47  

He listed more than 790 unpaid creditors and a ministry debt of over $1 million

 

Unknown Speaker  14:56  

almost half that

 

Unknown Speaker  15:00  

Despite being exposed and going through bankruptcy pop off came back onto the television. televangelists seem like a cockroach con artist that he is.

 

Unknown Speaker  15:12  

And I'll go over kind of how much they're making. Now in just a bit, oh, we're still Wonderboy in Wonder Girl. Oh, yeah, they, they took a break from the scene for a bit. So this was like 87.

 

Unknown Speaker  15:27  

But in the early 2000s pop off, renamed his ministry, people united for Christ and bought TV slots for infomercials. And he was also you know, doing the whole regular televangelist thing again. He had programs on BT, and reading through some articles. It seems like a lot of televangelists did this in the early 2000s. To which a lot of things I was reading, a lot of people feel like they were very much targeting the black audience. And I heard about curating very fucked up. I didn't get enough information to talk more about that but just know that's a thing.

 

Unknown Speaker  16:12  

Pop off seem to be successful in this comeback. GQ says in 2000 say

 

Unknown Speaker  16:21  

there's a really good GRE GQ.

 

Unknown Speaker  16:24  

GQ is like damn, we got to talk to your boy.

 

Unknown Speaker  16:30  

Become wonder.

 

Unknown Speaker  16:33  

Wonder magazine.

 

Unknown Speaker  16:36  

But surprisingly, they had Yeah, good article on this.

 

Unknown Speaker  16:40  

So they said in 2006 revenues were just over $35 million.

 

Unknown Speaker  16:47  

The family lives in a 7300 square foot home, which they bought for 4.5 million in 2007. And of course, it's owned by the church so it's tax free, baby.

 

Unknown Speaker  17:00  

I'm gonna kill someone

 

Unknown Speaker  17:06  

that's your favorite.

 

Unknown Speaker  17:10  

A helium balloon away.

 

Unknown Speaker  17:13  

Fuck. Okay. 7300. Like, when you said that my mind was like, oh, that's kind of small. Because I saw I thought 730 Oh, yeah. And then my brain was like,

 

Unknown Speaker  17:27  

oh, like for your house? Yeah, like our house was times like eight.

 

Unknown Speaker  17:35  

One of pop ups infomercials that seem to put him back on a lot of people's radars was for his miracle spring water.

 

Unknown Speaker  17:45  

So here's part of one of the ads that I just thought was fun to share.

 

Unknown Speaker  17:51  

Reverend Peter Popoff wants you to know that God can reverse every negative verdict in your life. You don't have to live a life sentence of lack and defeat, you can be free to enjoy all of God's riches, blessings. That's why he wants to send you your free packet of miracles bring water, your point of contact for the miracle you need. Now in a larger size, I had been into car accidents. And the doctors kept saying, well here you got to take painkillers. I used your miracle spring water and it's gone. The banks that told me that I could not get another home, I prayed I believed I followed every instruction and on May 26, we closed on our dream home. Stop settling on less and reach for God's best. God is a God of more. And now there's more miracle spring water in a new larger packet. Send me to water and I use it you told me I was gonna get a check for $7,000 Sure enough, I got a check in the mail. It was exactly $7,000 another check for $4,700 for me to move to New York City glory to God supernatural wealth transfer that will send you the miracle spring water. I'll send you the instructions. I'll tell you how to use it to see total victory in every area of your life. Act now. Call the number on your screen today and get your free packet of miracles. Springwater

 

Unknown Speaker  19:17  

isn't it amazing to see what God is doing. Supernatural wealth transfer. It's what I'm talking about. That's what we need help with from you listeners. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, please. supernaturally Venmo us.

 

Unknown Speaker  19:35  

Um, so yeah, that infomercial is great. I know that obviously you guys can't see it, but just think 90s early 2000s infomercials someone's frustrated at the computer and someone's frustrated in prison. Yeah.

 

Unknown Speaker  19:52  

I like hanging on to the bars. All that yeah, it's a lovely infomercial, B roll. They definitely use it.

 

Unknown Speaker  20:01  

And then I know I just showed you and but I want to show you another little ad that he has on his Instagram. Because Instagram is just like a bunch of ads for all this stuff. So it's really interesting. Do they still sell the water? Yeah, you can still go the website and get it. What? Yeah, I guess we'll find out

 

Unknown Speaker  20:20  

what I can get into. I'll get into that a little more in just a little bit. Here's an ad that he has on his Instagram. Did you use the American West America spring water twice, and you sent me this American spring warning and I followed the instructions. Two days later, I got a check for $2,500. The following week, I got a check for $30,000. And then you had said some of you are gonna be relocated. The next month, I had moved out to California. But I came back after three years later, but I didn't move out to California. And there was a house available for me when I got there. So I know that the prayers to profit, so you got to check for 2500 for 30,000 or 32 checks double portion blessing you can experience the amazing power of God in your own life. Use my free miracle Springwater as a powerful point of contact. Here's my personal email address to request yours. Teacher. Teacher pop boss.org double portion blessing reminds me of our little double cheescake double keep cake it's just when you get something extra

 

Unknown Speaker  21:33  

Wow. So yeah, maybe that's what I'll start calling it instead double portion blessing instead of Yeah, yeah. Double portion blessing.

 

Unknown Speaker  21:43  

So yeah, the infomercial caught me and Brandon surprise by surprise one night at Hotel which Oh, really? Yeah. Which was the

 

Unknown Speaker  21:55  

it sounds like a lot of other authors from the articles I read had like the same experience or like oh, just love hotel one night and then I was like, what? Bah bah I thought this guy debunked and done but no, he's not people still want to throw their money in the fucking garbage can book a miracle boy book a miracle boy, oh boy. I think I called him Wonder Boy.

 

Unknown Speaker  22:18  

Same thing.

 

Unknown Speaker  22:21  

So this the GQ article I mentioned earlier, the journalists that wrote but decided to investigate what was kind of going on and stuff. He went to visit the church, but it was just a vacant, deserted building. When he asked pop off about it, he said that they moved to a nearby strip mall and change their name. I didn't really look up any follow up information with that.

 

Unknown Speaker  22:48  

You also went to the business that was subcontracted for the distribution of the miracle spring water and the owners confirmed that they do work with pop off but weren't really helpful pass up. But luckily

 

Unknown Speaker  23:04  

on his way out into the parking lot. He bumped into a guy that worked happened to work for the receiving there.

 

Unknown Speaker  23:13  

And they had a little combo

 

Unknown Speaker  23:15  

and you went like this.

 

Unknown Speaker  23:18  

So yeah, he asked if they work with pop off. He said yeah, we do him.

 

Unknown Speaker  23:23  

We go through through Poland spring. This is the accent he has. Oh my jaw

 

Unknown Speaker  23:31  

littoralis asked. The pop off water is Poland spring. And he said yeah, they deliver it here. He said Paul is a guy who? Paul Paul's the guy who does the deliveries once or twice a month he comes for Peter Popoff we do a 35 gallon size jugs at a time once or twice a month. One time he came in one time to the 30 size gallon jugs

 

Unknown Speaker  23:57  

pop off said he sins but I can't do this accent me smart

 

Unknown Speaker  24:05  

off you said since

 

Unknown Speaker  24:08  

since his own pre blessed water in a 16 ounce bottle to add to all the jokes of Poland spring. So

 

Unknown Speaker  24:18  

yeah.

 

Unknown Speaker  24:20  

So every little package of water contains a few molecules of holiness. Ah, and that guy said I'm the one who pours the water until the drums I measure it out and I add it into the drums

 

Unknown Speaker  24:35  

it's funny he's just like diluting this little 16 ounce into like

 

Unknown Speaker  24:43  

which is funny because like so there's like I feel like there's like two ways to look at this like one he actually believes in what he's doing and even if he dies,

 

Unknown Speaker  24:53  

maybe any bullshit that he's diluting it out like that every bottle should be blessed by Him everything

 

Unknown Speaker  25:00  

So this fucking real, like a small bit of it diluted into larger water like no. And then to like, this was him just trying to

 

Unknown Speaker  25:10  

make just trying to kind of cover and just, you know make people think that he believes this book or you know, contractually legally he might have to

 

Unknown Speaker  25:22  

do it like that

 

Unknown Speaker  25:25  

and then just you know basically have a tiny bit in there or whatever, you know, save money. You don't wanna pay severance or anything like that

 

Unknown Speaker  25:37  

the only other thing I really want to mention about the water is most things I was reading and watching

 

Unknown Speaker  25:45  

including pop off and other people talk about it. The drinking the water. I mean, I think in the stuff I showed you, she said she drink the water and stuff.

 

Unknown Speaker  25:56  

One woman said that she poured some down her husband's throat while he was sleeping. And then another woman said that she put some in her sinus spray for her nose.

 

Unknown Speaker  26:08  

There's a disclaimer on the website, though, that says not to ingest the water. So I don't know what's on there. Weird. I checked the wayback machine on the website. And just just to see like when it was added it was added sometime late March or early April 2020. In this websites, that form on the website has been there for a very long time. So I don't I couldn't find anything about people getting sick or complaining. sort of interesting about what's going on with that because so many people had talked about drinking it, shooting it up their fucking nose.

 

Unknown Speaker  26:44  

And it's just a liability thing. Like you said, 2020 Maybe it was like COVID Maybe there was more of a crackdown on like things like that. Oh, or maybe

 

Unknown Speaker  26:55  

I'd have to look around but maybe there was claims of it like, oh, healing. Yeah. Oh, no, I didn't think to like, look that up specifically. I'm sorry listeners. I feel like it feels no definitely sorry. We'll just assume it was kind of something like that. Yeah.

 

Unknown Speaker  27:14  

So the waters free like all the other mail you can sign up for with the shitty gift. Oh, you get free water? Yeah, it's free. Oh, I figured it was like $80 a bottle or sometimes ask that you send a donation? Oh, well, I'm gonna get some and I'll send a donation. Yeah.

 

Unknown Speaker  27:33  

Yeah, cuz I'll get into it a little more. But uh

 

Unknown Speaker  27:38  

oh, actually, I'm about to get into it. So cool.

 

Unknown Speaker  27:42  

So yeah, they asked for a donation which is how they can you know, tell which people to further target and ask more.

 

Unknown Speaker  27:49  

You'll be on a mailing list. Oh, no. Okay, I'm not getting

 

Unknown Speaker  27:54  

a call or you have to call them but like, phone communication that some people will have had.

 

Unknown Speaker  28:02  

So I would like to mention, though, that on the websites, all the donation boxes, not just the miracle Springwater donation box. It has a minimum donation of $4.99.

 

Unknown Speaker  28:16  

So you can donate to us, but you better not be fucking cheap about it.

 

Unknown Speaker  28:23  

I did find that some people subscribed to the letters just to waste money. Oh, I guess it cost them a little bit to make the cheap little gifts and send it out.

 

Unknown Speaker  28:34  

I found the guy on YouTube. That does listen, he was opening up some that he collected.

 

Unknown Speaker  28:41  

That's fun. Each one just has like some cheap shitty little gifts. And so of course like the miracle spring water. There are some other gifts that's like these just shitty plastic dove cutouts.

 

Unknown Speaker  28:57  

Some kind of coins like any racer with like a Bible image on it like a Bible quote. I'm just picturing. Sorry.

 

Unknown Speaker  29:07  

I'm just picturing like walking into an old person's house whenever I worked at the funeral home. And this was just the kind of shit that would just be like, littered about the tables. Oh, yeah, for sure. And like maybe the racehorses that has like a little picture on it. They would have it like propped up. Yeah, somewhere next to a picture of a grandchild, right? Yeah, exactly.

 

Unknown Speaker  29:31  

So yeah, that's, that's the kind of stuff they send.

 

Unknown Speaker  29:35  

And of course, it's always like asking for money. It's that like print that looks like here and written. Oh, yeah.

 

Unknown Speaker  29:45  

So back to the GQ journalist. He also got to go to art. He went to want to pop off shows and happened to have a finger injury he was doing at the time.

 

Unknown Speaker  30:00  

So he's a perfect machine

 

Unknown Speaker  30:04  

helped me miracle boy.

 

Unknown Speaker  30:08  

When pop off approached him He asked what what was troubling him. And he held up, quote, I held up my broken finger he touched it.

 

Unknown Speaker  30:18  

And then he let loose a wild stream of gloss fall way. Oh yeah, I am sorry. I don't know that we're speaking in tongues and Pentecostals

 

Unknown Speaker  30:30  

scare him. Amala he cried.

 

Unknown Speaker  30:37  

Scared. I'm sorry.

 

Unknown Speaker  30:39  

I wiggled my pinky, which I wish I had been able to do anyway. And he shouted, You are healed and gave me a long tight hug. It felt good as hugs do and then came something I didn't expect love from the crowd. People rubbing me on my back after I sat down touching me and giving me high fives saying praise the Lord. I felt so good. Even if my pinky had had been causing excruciating pain. Or even if I'd had a far worse condition something like that in my heart I'd known was incurable I'm sure that for that moment, I wouldn't have noticed so he's just saying that yeah, there's just so much hype around what's going on to get you're going to want to cry but it's just like so sad that maybe some of these people are just like so lacking connection and stuff in their lives that they think they have to do this weird money giving thing that exploits them in order to feel part of a fucking community like it's depressing it's not just that because like for that is how I feel about some of my some of the people I'm covering but like with pop off it's just like he it's like he's promising them

 

Unknown Speaker  31:58  

like more wealth or like a cure it's not it doesn't feel so much as like a community

 

Unknown Speaker  32:05  

like it almost feels like a get rich quick scheme but through Jesus

 

Unknown Speaker  32:11  

like that's just like all like It's like it feels like really quick transactions between like him and all these members when he talks to him and stuff. But I mean, it's sad because you know, people talk about like cancer and stuff

 

Unknown Speaker  32:27  

like, I don't know, it's kind of scary, scary.

 

Unknown Speaker  32:34  

The same journalist went to interview pop off at his own house.

 

Unknown Speaker  32:40  

The interview was honestly pretty mad, not really interesting. But he did get to use the bathroom and pop offs office would

 

Unknown Speaker  32:49  

try and I feel like I set that up to be like really interesting.

 

Unknown Speaker  32:53  

And there was lots of, you know, Bible inspirational quotes, but also next to the toilet paper.

 

Unknown Speaker  33:00  

And 18 and a half by 11 inch print out listing the family's goals for 2015 P in the bathroom of his office, so I don't know I guess it's thinking and shitter

 

Unknown Speaker  33:14  

but funny if he didn't flush the toilet

 

Unknown Speaker  33:19  

so this LED you know, goals for Peter was Nick and Amy like you.

 

Unknown Speaker  33:24  

Hammonds wife's kids. Wonder children. Yeah, Miracle children's

 

Unknown Speaker  33:32  

Peters list included more crusades, quote books on trips, including Italy skiing and Lake Tahoe. And at number five tax exemption in Canada. It was giving in an astonishing Percy of the prosperity gospel, get converts get time on slopes get a tax exemption.

 

Unknown Speaker  33:56  

And that is all

 

Unknown Speaker  33:58  

pop off.

 

Unknown Speaker  34:00  

That is very depressing.

 

Unknown Speaker  34:05  

Yeah, I feel like I feel like if he was not exposed by James Randi, there might be more to cover. But oh, yeah. But I just I wanted to see where floating Bibles into

 

Unknown Speaker  34:20  

Russia was gonna go.

 

Unknown Speaker  34:22  

But he exposed shortly after that

 

Unknown Speaker  34:26  

is so fucking crazy that people are still willing to give him money after your boyfriend exposed and it was like, Hey, I tapped into the radio frequency. But I had something similar in some of my research that I did. And it's kind of like an abusive relationship. Like they make excuses for these people. Like they're misunderstood. Like, it's not like that, you know?

 

Unknown Speaker  34:55  

We've all been through stuff. Yeah, it's fucking why

 

Unknown Speaker  35:00  

Hell yeah. There's some things like that, that people just don't definitely don't deserve a fucking passport. Yeah, I mean,

 

Unknown Speaker  35:10  

yeah, likes. That's.

 

Unknown Speaker  35:14  

Yeah, it's a miracle. If you had to ask Peter Popoff to heal something for you. What would you choose?

 

Unknown Speaker  35:25  

My son Diablo has been having a tough ear problem lately and I owe for that to be healed. That's my stage chose your son's sound even my real son

 

Unknown Speaker  35:41  

What about you? What would you want

 

Unknown Speaker  35:48  

maybe my ADHD

 

Unknown Speaker  35:55  

stubborn brag about my boyfriend again. He's done a lot with like faith healing. Oh, not just

 

Unknown Speaker  36:03  

you know, these ones that we're talking about where it's like praying the cancer way. But like the those

 

Unknown Speaker  36:12  

surgeries those like faith surgeries? I don't know about that hands. And they're like, oh, look, we're pulling the sensor. Oh, yeah. I was thinking about that while you're talking into also cover stuff about that, too. And he has a book called The faith healers. Oh, cool. stuff. So hell yeah, I'll definitely check that out. Yeah, one of the things that while you're talking, I thought about I listened to a podcast, let me grab the name real quick.

 

Unknown Speaker  36:45  

And they put together somebody I was researching and Peter pop off.

 

Unknown Speaker  36:51  

So I kind of listened to both of them. One of the things they're saying about pop off was

 

Unknown Speaker  36:57  

that somebody doing the research had witnessed someone with a child that couldn't walk. And they went to Peter Popoff and tried to get him to you know, talk to the kid and stuff. But of course, since it's fake, he got turned away. Be turned him away. Yeah, like he couldn't even come into the thing. And apparently this had happened several times. Oh my god, that is crazy. Yeah, cuz I mean, it's fucking fake. It's the kids aren't gonna be able to get up and walk. Damn, they're like, this is a liability issue. Yeah, like they had to have fake people reveal that it's not gonna work. Exactly. Damn. Yeah. I don't know. That almost sounds like something you could see somebody over turning a someone with disabilities away. Looks like it'd be covered somewhere in the ACA. It was the 80s or whatever. So

 

Unknown Speaker  37:57  

yeah, they were still doing the crawl on the the White House or whatever. Yeah.

 

Unknown Speaker  38:05  

Yeah, it was the swindled podcast. And they had one that covered. It's called the ticket to Vangelis. The televangelist and it covers. They talk a little bit about Peter Popoff. And then another dude, I'll talk about a little later. But stay tuned, listeners. Stay tuned.

 

Unknown Speaker  38:26  

Well,

 

Unknown Speaker  38:28  

I have a another gentleman to talk about. A gentleman. Is he a miracle? Boy, he

 

Unknown Speaker  38:38  

he's a complicated one. Because, boy, some of the things that he did truly were miracle boy, but then some of them his just like the rest of these motherfuckers. Okay. Yeah. So let's get into it. I'm going to be talking about Billy Graham.

 

Unknown Speaker  38:59  

I wrote and every time I hear Billy, sorry, like baby, Uncle baby, lady, Billy. Yes, baby. Again, the righteous gemstones. Y'all need to watch it so fucking good. I kind of want to see him for Halloween. Oh, that would be like the outfit that he has when he's singing at the resort and he has the see show. Oh, like, I kind of want to do that or be the wife. I can't remember her name and Tiffany.

 

Unknown Speaker  39:30  

Her teeth fixed.

 

Unknown Speaker  39:32  

So good.

 

Unknown Speaker  39:34  

So I wrote in my notes, Billy Graham is probably the least evil televangelists that I read about about.

 

Unknown Speaker  39:41  

But don't worry, there's still some evil.

 

Unknown Speaker  39:44  

He started preaching in the 40s. And by the 50s. He was very opposed to segregation, which is great. Oh, cool. Yeah. So I guess he had some of these crusades which Oh, fuck and now I guess that's just there.

 

Unknown Speaker  40:00  

little thing where they go on a tour and talk. I don't know what exactly that is funny to me the world you have to live in where you call your like World Tour like a crusade like shut the fuck.

 

Unknown Speaker  40:14  

Dude. Yeah.

 

Unknown Speaker  40:17  

They a lot of these guys feel the same to me as I guess like alpha? Yeah, yeah, so stupid. Yeah, some of these guys have major and rotate vibes. But when he started doing his crusades, they were still segregated. But he got to a point where when he got somewhere and they had it set up to be segregated or not allow black people, he would like tear down the barriers or whatever they had. So that's really fucking cool. Good, very cool.

 

Unknown Speaker  40:51  

And 1957 He even invited Martin Luther King to speak at one of his revivals.

 

Unknown Speaker  40:58  

I couldn't find if

 

Unknown Speaker  41:01  

he actually did, but apparently they were pretty close friends. Oh, cool.

 

Unknown Speaker  41:07  

And at one point, Graham had said there's no scriptural basis for segregation, which a plus Sir, this is civil rights boy. Yes. So all rights boy, we do we appreciate that. I have been friends with Bernie. Yeah, back in the day. Well, probably mine. I don't think they aligned. Things probably

 

Unknown Speaker  41:29  

another good thing that he did.

 

Unknown Speaker  41:32  

He urged people to pray for those with AIDS, which that's great. Because at the time, a lot of ministers were saying, you know, it was punishment for homosexuality and promiscuity and all that shit.

 

Unknown Speaker  41:50  

Well, in 1993, he actually did say that, while we should pray for people with AIDS, that he did think that it might be a judgment from God. Oh, I mean,

 

Unknown Speaker  42:05  

yeah. But then two weeks later, there's so many

 

Unknown Speaker  42:12  

features very opened down. But then two weeks later, he retracted the remark saying, I don't believe that. I don't know why he said this. Oh, okay.

 

Unknown Speaker  42:25  

I don't know what to think about that. I mean, I don't typically say that. I think a group should be

 

Unknown Speaker  42:36  

judged by accident. Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't accidentally say that about like, my sister being gay, you know, and like, that doesn't accidentally slip out because I don't think it

 

Unknown Speaker  42:51  

can down mass HCP per se.

 

Unknown Speaker  42:58  

But overall, Billy Graham is regarded as a civil rights person like a fairly for being a conservative, Christian, a pretty good guy, I guess. Though, in 2012, he publicly endorsed North Carolina Amendment One, which was a measure to ban same sex marriage in the state. And he and his son both condemned President Obama's public declaration of support for same sex marriage later that year.

 

Unknown Speaker  43:32  

I had heard Billy Graham's name but actually the first time I really started thinking about him was when we were in North Carolina they have a Billy Graham expressway. Oh, just funny. Zone road THIS WAY TO JESUS gate on my first lay my paperwork to write. I don't remember if it's a total or not, but that would be very fitting if you had to pay for the church and they got that tax free. Oh my god. I'm surprised it's not

 

Unknown Speaker  44:08  

another bad thing about him. He has said that

 

Unknown Speaker  44:15  

the role of wife mother and homemaker are the real destiny for womanhood.

 

Unknown Speaker  44:22  

So

 

Unknown Speaker  44:25  

told my husband

 

Unknown Speaker  44:29  

Yeah, so apparently both of his daughters had asked him to go to college and he said no.

 

Unknown Speaker  44:38  

Why? Yeah. Because that's not a wife mother or homemaker thing going to college. Wow. So I do you think that one of them did eventually go? I don't have notes on that, but I don't think that necessarily stopped. At least one of them. I know another one is

 

Unknown Speaker  45:00  

A pastor herself so I don't know about her but

 

Unknown Speaker  45:05  

and then his wife had wanted to do mission work before they got married. I think she wanted to get a Tibet and do some stuff. And he convinced her that she should stay and marry him. Because you know, God's plan for women is not greatness. It's like, clean it up my laundry and shit.

 

Unknown Speaker  45:25  

That's yeah,

 

Unknown Speaker  45:28  

but if you go who's gonna wash my clothes?

 

Unknown Speaker  45:32  

But my laundry?

 

Unknown Speaker  45:36  

Actually, he's in North Carolina, so I guess it'd be like, but my laundry wash

 

Unknown Speaker  45:47  

my clothes are dusty from building my Parkway expressway. How else are people gonna get around?

 

Unknown Speaker  45:57  

So very complicated, man. I mean, I'm not trying to like diminish his civil rights work, but

 

Unknown Speaker  46:07  

it's fucked up that he wanted to hold other groups back. I mean, why can't you just be fucking cool? And be like, hey, every human being is equal. Yeah, yeah. But he, he could do that for other races. But as far as like other genders and other sexualities, he just couldn't wrap his mind around that, which is sad. And I hope that is he still alive? He's not alive.

 

Unknown Speaker  46:39  

I hope that if he would have lived a little longer, he would have maybe figured that shit out. But I don't know when he died. I mean, he.

 

Unknown Speaker  46:51  

You know, there's a quote from him in 2012. So he hasn't been dead like that long. But

 

Unknown Speaker  46:57  

the tie in to current times. Last week there was a statue of him revealed at the US Capitol. Oh, at the Capitol, at the Capitol. Okay. Yeah.

 

Unknown Speaker  47:12  

He was honored for being a trailblazer in race relations.

 

Unknown Speaker  47:19  

Graham joined three other Americans who have received the nation's highest honors have the Congressional Gold Medal, which are lying in state

 

Unknown Speaker  47:30  

and having a statues erected in the Capitol.

 

Unknown Speaker  47:37  

The others who have had the same honors Billy Graham, our presidents, Gerald R. Ford, Ronald Reagan, which Fuck him? I don't know enough about Ford, honestly to say, and civil rights leader Rosa Parks. So very random. Yes, dude. I don't know how much he contributed for it. And I'm glad that the statute was just more about his work around that and not like bringing in religious shit because I was gonna get really

 

Unknown Speaker  48:10  

Yeah.

 

Unknown Speaker  48:13  

I still kind of torn about it still, though.

 

Unknown Speaker  48:19  

I don't know. I feel like it's weird that we have a statue of preacher. Maybe that makes me like a shitty person. And people are gonna be like, Oh, you're a fucking bitch. Alyssa. But I mean, no, I can understand that. Because like I was I'm also not a fan of having like, statues and things like that of religious figures or significant. Yeah.

 

Unknown Speaker  48:46  

State related.

 

Unknown Speaker  48:49  

Building. Yeah, I don't think we should have any of that shit. But at all if it's more related to his work as a civil,

 

Unknown Speaker  48:57  

per like, thing that I mean, I guess that's cool. But I feel like yeah, like read what the plaque says? Because it's slightly if it just mentions that and then there's talks about him being a preacher. I'd be like,

 

Unknown Speaker  49:09  

Yeah, I just feel torn on it. Because like, Yeah, I mean, I don't want to diminish his work that he did. But I guess my issue is, I feel like there are people that are way more deserving of having the honor of having that statue. Like, for example, why not Martin Luther King himself? Yeah. Or like, other people that maybe weren't as kind of bigoted as it? Yeah, yeah. But then again, at the same time, maybe I'm sure they're special. Hey, maybe it does, maybe, you know, back then people didn't have any open mindedness. So this was like a special thing. So I just changed a lot of those mindsets of the more racist rule.

 

Unknown Speaker  50:00  

Just people and stuff. Yeah. Oh, after read more about like what he's done, but yeah, yeah, I think you're probably right though there probably are people that are less just not judgmental. What's the word?

 

Unknown Speaker  50:13  

I can't think of it the mic. Oh, okay, maybe. So yeah, I get what you're saying like there could be a less divisive, controversial. What's normal or controversial kind of person? That would deserve it more. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I'm not meaning to sound like an asshole. Hopefully. Yeah, I don't know. Mixed feelings on that. Yeah. No, yeah, I totally I totally. I totally feel that

 

Unknown Speaker  50:43  

maybe we should recommend a better person. Yes. Um, but yeah, if you if fat heads if you have anyone to recommend, let us let us know. And you are our little miracle listeners.

 

Unknown Speaker  51:00  

for little boys and girls.

 

Unknown Speaker  51:03  

You are following us on Instagram? Um,

 

Unknown Speaker  51:09  

I think that's, that's about it. Oh, yeah. read and review us. Yes. That would be awesome. Send us in your religious stories.

 

Unknown Speaker  51:20  

And we we love you fat heads. We do. Party on. Party on miracle fat heads, boys and girls out there.