This is the latest installment in the Sacrilegious Humor series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a comedy bit that is irreverent towards religion, makes fun of religion, pokes fun at sincerely held religious beliefs, or challenges the firmly held religious beliefs of others, please email me the name of the bit or a link to it.
Today’s video is a takedown of Evangelical preacher Kenneth Copeland by comedian Josh Johnson.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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This mega evangelist pastor stuff really pisses me off, especially when I have an older cousin who is an Assembly of God pastor in western Ky (he’s been at his current location for 30 or so years) who gives of himself and lives a very modest lifestyle like the comedian described. Yes he has a small house that he owns, a vehicle, etc. His church is a traditional looking building that he maintains, down to cutting the grass on the 10 some odd acres himself. He has a small flock of mostly lower to middle class rural congregants. Until his health issues and Covid, he had regular Sunday lunches after church for anyone who wanted to come, complete with his own heathy dishes that he coooked the day before. Free of charge.
He wears out his very regular vehicles visiting nursing homes and elderly friends throughout KY. His only extravagance is his guitar collection (he loves to sing in church and at the nursing homes). He has been married to his wife for at at least 45 years, has raised three sons who have gone on to successful careers in law enforcement, with children of their own.
He has recently been dealing with a serious medical condition but he keeps posting his sermons on YouTube. Of course being AoG, there are plenty of references to the end times, but most of his sermons are about having a good attitude towards yourself and treatment others with kindness and humility.
He was the first person in my family that I told when I was in the process of becoming Catholic, the first one on my father’s side of the family, who are either Pentecostal/Protestants or secular/non-religious. He was very encouraging. He didn’t try to convince me against my conscience, or get out the Chick tracts (or the AoG version of them).
He embodies an old fashioned idea- you don’t have to agree with someone to love, encourage and respect them.
When I think of a Pastor who is the complete opposite of Kenneth Copeland, who actually tries to live up to the creed of the Gospel, I think of my cousin.
Kenneth Copeland is a hypocritical jackass who is nothing more than an entertainer marketing an invisible product for money. His ill gotten gains will perish with him someday, and no one will remember anything about him other than the grotesque monuments he leaves behind. My cousin will be remembered by everyone who he encouraged, the families of those whose funerals he preached at his own expense, the people who came to his church for a free meal and food to take home. I will always remember him, especially whenever I’m working through my own moral dilemmas.
Obviously everyone with any sense of decency and moral foundations despises Copeland and everything he stands for but I still can’t get my head round the simple fact that he has perpetrated this gigantic con. His wealth has to come from somewhere and that somewhere is more than just a local congregation and of course is in the word ‘televangelist’. Gullible, stupid, corrupt….all of these words figure in the conversation, but the supreme irony is that everyone in the US contributes to this disgusting charade by virtue of the fact that the IRS do not pursue him for tax.
Right on Geoff. I call it “easy salvation”- folks, especially vulnerable ones, believe that by sending in a check to this person they are somehow gaining something that transcends their everyday reality. I haven’t watched him that much but I do know he plays on people’s fears, especially white/older people who fear anything other than Dear Leader Trump as President.
Instead of using his influence to encourage these folks to go out on a limb and try opening their compassion up to others, he peddles fear and sells certainty. He is a despicable man. I say this as Christian myself. He abuses my own religious faith for personal enrichment. He makes a mockery of something that should help people grow beyond their fears and selfishness.
Why is it every time I see ANY picture or video of Copeland I see someone that looks like a mass murderer, sexual predator, scoundrel, liar and thief? Maybe even an arsonist? Guy scares the crap out of me. If I was not an atheist I would say “Devil”.
It’s really beyond my comprehension how ANYBODY could put up with this scoundrel more than 5 seconds.
@Jeff, You’re not the only one. I think he looks like Pazuzu, an actual aerial demon from Babylonian mythology. Considering Kenneth Copeland’s love of airplanes…it fits.
Josh Johnson is great – love his comedy.
Kenneth Copeland has “crazy eyes”, my name for a level of dramatic intensity that could be terrifying if it wasn’t hilarious. How anyone can take him seriously is beyond my understanding, though apparently people do.
I appreciate the video and your commentary.
With respect that I hope you know is genuine, I disagree with one aspect.
I don’t see the humor as sacreligious. I see much that is disrespectful of religion in the subject: both of the humor and of your wise accompanying words.
Those who exploit for personal wealth what should be a search for spiritual truth have succumbed to a terrible temptation.
Thank you for this post.