#paul crouch

From the Christian Research Institute Updated: Jul 31, 2022 Published: Jun 9, 2009

After newspapers across America last December revealed Unification Church attempts to infiltrate the political “Christian Right” through gifts to political action commit­tees and conservative Christian groups, the Moonies quieted their activities.

Now some Unification Church-watchers are concerned that the group is stepping-up another tactic which may result in political acceptance: infiltrat­ing independent charismatic ministries to gain favor in the bur­geoning charismatic movement as a whole.

“They’re out there winning friends and influencing people,” said a source at the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) who did not want to be named, adding that gaining acceptance in America is essen­tial to the church’s objective of having their leader Sun Myung Moon recognized as the second coming of Christ.

Last December’s articles, which appeared mostly in promi­nent Knight-Ridder newspa­pers, stated that in March 1987 Moon forged an alliance with the Christian Voice, the largest con­servative Christian lobby in America. They also reported that Moon has been funding anticom­munist guerrillas in Central Amer­ica, Afghanistan, and the Philip­pines, and that the Unification Church gave the late John T. Dolan, founder of the 300,000-member National Conserva­tive Political Action Commit­tee, a $775,000 gift. Former Trea­sury Secretary Robert Ander­son had also been paid $127,500 as a Unification Church consultant.

Recently the NAE warned its members to be wary of Unification Church attempts to infil­trate their ranks by joining with organizations that seem to have conservative goals. Moon-watch­ers say two points of Moonie infiltration into the Christian community have been over issues of religious freedom and anticom­munism.

In recent years certain Chris­tian leaders have been criticized for what some perceived as drawing too close to the Unifi­cation Church. Several years ago Tim LaHaye, Christian author and head of the American Coalition for Traditional Val­ues, came under fire for accept­ing a gift from Col. Bo Hi Pak, a former Korean intelligence offi­cer, president of the Washington Times newspaper, and Moon’s right-hand man. Since then, a number of pastors from a broad spectrum of denominations have received free trips from CAUSA, a Unification Church-funded anticommunism organization. Churchmen have also been speaking at CAUSA rallies (e.g., Jerry Fallwell spoke at a confer­ence in Miami last year which was co-sponsored by CAUSA).

Another group admitting Uni­fication Church funding is the American Freedom Coalition (AFC), publisher of the monthly Religious Freedom Alert, headed by Donald Sills as president and Robert Grant as chairman. Although LaHaye, Florida pastor D. James Kennedy, and others have left the AFC because of the Moon connection, others, such as Trinity Broadcasting Net­work’s Paul Crouch, Ben Armstrong of the National Religious Broadcasters, evangelists James Robison and Rex Humbard, and other prominent evangelicals have remained on AFC’s executive committee. (Although there is no known direct connection between CAUSA and AFC, Sills often speaks at CAUSA func­tions. CAUSA is headed by Phillip V. Sanchez, former U.S. Ambassador to Honduras and Columbia.)

In recent days Sills has been concentrating on attacking anti-cult organizations as a threat to religious freedom to audiences with a high percentage of charismatics. Sills (who visited Moon during his prison term) appeared May 3 on Crouch’s “Praise the Lord” show on TBN and denounced the secular Cult Awareness Network (CAN). From there Sills went on the AFC’s radio network hosted by Grant and sharply criticized CAN and cultwatchers in gener­al. (In recent months Sills has emerged as a public affairs spokesman for the Greater Grace World Outreach — formerly The Bible Speaks World Outreach, a controver­sial group a federal judge recent­ly ordered to return $6.6 million in contributions it swindled from a former member.)

Jan Crouch, a co-founder of Trinity Broadcasting Network and popular televangelist, has died following a stroke, her son announced Tuesday via a posting on his and his wife’s website. She was 78.

“Laurie and I have just watched the transition of our precious mother from this world to the next; watched her step into the presence of Jesus and into her heavenly reward,” Matt and Laurie Crouch said in a statement.

“Jan Crouch, known around the world as Momma Jan, has gone home.”

Crouch and her late husband, Paul, founded Trinity Broadcasting Network, now known as TBN, in 1973 and watched it grow to become the world’s largest and most successful religious broadcasting network.

Born Janice Bethany in Columbus, Georgia, she was the daughter of Edgar and Laurie Bethany. Her father was a preacher and official in the Assemblies of God denomination.

She would meet her future husband through a church event.

In a 2007 TBN newsletter, Paul Crouch recalled seeing her at a camp meeting in Rapid City, South Dakota, where her father was preaching.

“Heads turned (especially the boys) as a slight, beautiful angel seemed more to glide than walk toward the front of the auditorium,” Crouch wrote. “Head down — timid it seemed to me — yet the bright red dress contrasted with the retiring, even shy, demeanor of this stunning young lady!”

Crouch was thrilled to learn the young woman with which he was smitten was scheduled to start classes in the fall at Evangel College, an Assemblies of God liberal arts school, in his hometown of Springfield, Missouri. After she invited him to hear her sing at a youth event, the pair began dating and married in August 1957.

What followed was the birth of their sons, Paul Jr. and Matthew, and the blossoming of their ministry from a single station to a multimillion-dollar business empire.

The couple were a popular fixture on their show “Praise the Lord.”

“Janice Crouch, called ‘Mama’ on the air, is known for her pink-tinged wigs, which look like huge swirls of cotton candy, and for talking emotionally about the Lord’s blessings,” Erik Eckholm wrote in a 2012 piece for The New York Times. “Mr. Crouch, or ‘Papa,’ is relentlessly upbeat as he quotes flurries of Bible verses on signature programs like ‘Praise the Lord.’ ”

Paul Crouch Sr. died in 2013. In Tuesday’s statement, her family wrote, “She has taken a piece of our hearts with her, but it’s so wonderful to know that Paul and Jan Crouch are together again, in the arms of Jesus.”

But TBN was not without controversy.

The New York Times article documented a family fight that highlighted the lavish lifestyle of the Crouches, including matching multimillion-dollar homes in a gated community in Newport, California.

In 2015, Courthouse News Service noted that various members of the Crouch family have sued each other over the years.

Jan Crouch has passed away and joined her husband six feet under. 

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