Robert Tilton

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Image:Robert Tilton.jpg Robert Tilton is an American televangelist who achieved notoriety in the 1980s and 1990s through his paid television program Success-N-Life. At its peak, it aired in all 235 American TV markets.

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Biography

In Success-N-Life, Tilton regularly taught that poverty was a result of sin. Tilton's ministry revolved around the practice of making "vows", financial committments to Tilton's ministry. When a person made a vow to Tilton (Tilton's preferred "vow", stressed frequently during his broadcasts, was $1,000), Tilton preached that God would recognize the vow and reward the donor with vast material riches. He also taught that poverty, sickness, and other problems were directly caused by Satan, and he repeatedly encouraged viewers to "give the devil a black eye" by making a vow to his ministry.[1] One of Tilton's most frequent sermon topics was the Biblical story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath (I Kings 17:8-16). In the story, Elijah comes to a widow who is almost out of food and asks her to prepare him a meal. She replies that she has only enough food for one last meal for herself and her son. Elijah asks her to prepare him a meal first and then promises that God will not let her food be exhausted. In faith she does so, and her food supply indeed does not run out. Tilton regularly used this story in the context of asking viewers to send money to his ministry.

A 1991 ABC News investigation, spearheaded by Trinity Foundation president Ole Anthony and broadcast on ABC's Primetime Live, found that Tilton's ministry threw away prayer requests without reading them, keeping only any money or valuables sent to them by viewers. The investigation indicated that Success-N-Life was taking in more than $80 million (U.S.) a year. Tilton vehemently denied the allegations and took to the airwaves on a special episode of Success-N-Life entitled "Primetime Lies" to air his side of the story, which included an affirmation that not only had he had never thrown prayer requests away, but had in fact lain atop them in prayer for so long that "the chemicals actually got into my bloodstream, and[...]I had two small strokes in my brain."[2] Despite Tilton's repeated denials of misconduct, the state of Texas and the Federal government got involved in subsequent investigations, finding more causes for concern about Tilton's financial status with each new revelation. According to an October 1993 memorandum to Tilton's lawyer, J.C. Joyce, from Rev. James Eugene Ewing, Ewing used a computer demographics program that identifies and isolates some of America's poorest sub-ZIP codes to identify targets for Ewing's clients--Tilton among them--to send mailings soliciting for new seed-faith "vows". The memo noted, among other details, that "[t]he size of each special area is about two to four city blocks[...][a]nd thank God there are tens of thousands of them across the nation."[3] As each revelation became increasingly more damaging, viewership and donations declined dramatically, prompting Tilton to stop paying for television airtime for Success-N-Life in 1993. Tilton sued ABC for libel because of its investigation and report, but the case was dismissed. The decline of Success-N-Life also led to the end of his first marriage in 1993 to wife Marte, a frequent guest on the show, as well as a short-lived second marriage in 1994 to former beauty queen-turned-evangelist Leigh Valentine, which ended in 1996.

Nevertheless, Tilton returned to the airwaves in 1997, buying airtime on independent television stations primarily serving inner city areas. In 1998, his program began airing on cable channel BET as part of the late-night program BET Inspiration. The show still appears on BET. Although these late 90's shows rerun regularly, Tilton has also recorded several shows in 2003 and 2004 with his third wife, Maria Rodriguez, and their four French poodles.

Aside from his TV program, Tilton was also the pastor of Word of Faith Family Church and World Outreach Center in Dallas, Texas. While the church was a megachurch with over 8,000 members in the 1980s and early 1990s, membership declined to fewer than 300 by 1999, when Tilton sold the church.

Tilton is the author of several self-help books about financial success, including The Power to Create Wealth, God's Laws of Success, How to Pay Your Bills Supernaturally, and How to be Rich and Have Everything You Ever Wanted. Most of Tilton's books were published in the 1980s and have been republished.

As of May 2005, Tilton ran his ministry out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, but lives in the Miami, Florida, area.

In 1985, two American 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. Entitled Pastor Gas, the video featured a medley of footage from Success-N-Life, overdubbed with sound effects of well-timed flatulence. Unofficial VHS copies of the video circulated in the United States through the late 1980s, under such titles as Heaven Only Knows, The Joyful Noise, and The Farting Preacher. After the hosts of The Mark and 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. For better or for worse, the video distribution (including digital bootlegs distributed online) expanded public awareness of Robert Tilton and his controversial "television ministry".

The stand-up comedy material of Ron White also includes mention of Robert Tilton.

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Articles
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Lampoonery
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The Farting Preacher Parody Videos
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