One to Watch: David Cerullo
Who: Televangelist; head of Inspiration Network, a “seed faith” mega-ministry built from the ashes of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s PTL Club, whose assets were purchased by his father, Morris Cerullo…
…a Pentecostal Christian evangelist prominent in the faith healing movement. He holds crusades in which people with serious illnesses and disabilities are encouraged to attend where Jesus allegedly ‘heals’ them. He has used posters of people abandoning wheelchairs and crutches to promote his crusades.Cerullo was an early and prominent promoter of the scare over Satanism which later became known by critics as Satanic Panic. Cerullo championed the testimonies of two fraudulent “ex-Satanist” fakes, John Todd and Mike Warnke… Cerullo cut off his association and promotion of John Todd early on but remained closely associated with Mike Warnke until Warnke left to start his own ministry at the time of the publication of his phony memoirs, The Satan Seller.
Cerullo has been indicted by a Grand Jury for IRS fraud. His ministry has been under investigation for years by the government for his fund raising practices. While no charges were brought against Cerullo’s ministry, Cerullo was found to have underreported his income for 1998 through 2000. However, on August 8, 2007, the US District Court, Southern District of California ordered that the indictment be dismissed as a consequence of the prosecutor’s inaccurate explanation of the Duberstein test to the jury. …
Over the years Cerullo has been criticized for the manner and style of his fundraising practices in the developed countries to finance his mission work. His record shows decades of much travel through out other parts of the world with those funds even in war zones. Many ministers and pastors all over the world attribute thanks to Morris Cerullo for coming to their country and being exhorted into the Christian ministry. Many effective ministers today view him as an apostolic style minister.
He is also known to have solicited funds from television viewers, and equating fund raising and purchase of his books as a matter of faith. On a January 27, 2009 appearance on the Benny Hinn ministry show on Trinity Broadcasting Network, Cerullo urged viewers to rush to their phone to purchase his bible commentary for $100, and further added that “those of you who rush to your phone… are demonstrating your faith in God.”
A documentary on the BBC, Newsround, reported that an epileptic woman stopped taking medicine (although she was never instructed or advised to do so by the ministry) after she believed herself to have been healed during Cerullo’s rally. The woman subsequently died following a seizure in her bath.
In 1991, British authorities suspended the license of a satellite station for broadcasting the program, Victory with Morris Cerullo. The license was reinstated after the station agreed to precede the program with the disclaimer, “Morris Cerullo World Evangelism cannot substantiate the claims made by those participants featured in this programme,” and advising all persons suffering from illness to seek medical attention.
In the 1999, the Christian Channel, a UK cable channel, broadcast an advertisement for one of Cerullo’s European rallies which claimed that “Satanic hordes” had “occupied the principal palaces of power.” As a result, the channel was fined £20,000 for breaching advertising codes requiring political impartiality, for denigrating other religious beliefs, for potentially frightening viewers, and for making statements prejudicial of “respect for human dignity.”
Why David Cerullo is one to watch: He’s the subject of growing interest as a result of his own fundraising tactics, his high salary and increasing wealth, and the 93-acre “City of Light” he’s building in South Carolina — with a big boost from taxpayer money.
See also these articles, archived at RickRoss.com:
Another former Cerullo associate accuses him of fund-raising fraud
San Diego Union-Tribune, June 24, 2000
Evangelist Cerullo indicted in tax case
San Diego Union-Tribune, July 13, 2005
Evangelist going on trial
for tax evasion charges
WCNC News, South Carolina, March 14, 2007
Grand jury misled, federal judge rules
San Diego Union-Tribune, August 14, 2007
For more on the “Prosperity Gospel” (the “Word Faith,” a.k.a. “Positive Confession,” a.k.a. “Seed Faith,” a.k.a. “Giving and Receiving,” a.k.a. “Health & Wealth,” a.k.a. “Name It and Claim It,” a.k.a. “Blab-It-and-Grab-It”), see Paul Crouch.
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