excerpted from the Gospel Grapevine column of Snake Oil # 3, Summer 1994:
TILTON TILTON TILTON Yes, financial miracles really do happen! Just ask Vivian and Mike Elliott who paid just $30 on their $3,000 vow to Robert Tilton Ministries and received a $1.5 MILLION blessing! The New Port Richey, Florida couple were awarded the $1.5 million by a Dallas jury in a suit against Tilton for fraudulently obtaining their support for his ministry. The Elliotts had appeared on a Success N Life praise report back in 1991 giving Bob credit for breaking Vivian's cycle of depression, but through some pretty convoluted logic, were somehow victimized in the process. I attended Day Two of the week long trial which just happened to be the day Bob testified. The raw footage of the Elliott's praise report was played in the morning, and then Bob took the stand for four hours that afternoon. Watching the footage of the Elliotts from 1991 convinced me that regardless of Robert Tilton's underlying motivations, the fact remains that his program did, in fact, help these people for whom traditional counseling had failed. I also thought that Bob handled himself very well on the stand. He cried at one point when asked about firing Marte from Word of Faith after their divorce. He also stayed perfectly in character as the Elliott's attorney Gary Richardson bullied and badgered him, harping on some of his more outlandish claims. I learned that the condition Bob suffered from after praying over all those prayer requests -- you know, where the ink got into his system and caused the serious bags under his eyes requiring plastic surgery -- is known as "Toxic Brain Syndrome." I guess that sounds better than "cocaine addiction." Maybe I've watched SNL once too often, but Bob made perfect sense. Anyway, the jury didn't see it my way. Although Bob has spent plenty of time in court lately, this was his first time in front of a jury, and if this verdict is an indication of things to come, Bob better be packing some suitcases fulla hundreds and getting ready to head South. Of the several suits set to go, the Elliott's seemed the weakest. I hate to think what a jury will do to Bob when the Mary Turk trial comes up. Mrs. Turk was the lady who died of cancer, watching Success N Life rather than seeking medical help. Informed sources tell me that Court TV is interested in covering one of Bob's upcoming trials..
In other Tilton related news, Bob's home church, Word of Faith, has been torn by strife and discord lately as things have taken a turn for the cultic. Bob's new thing is "Strong Prayer," which goes WAY beyond speaking in tongues. We're not talking about a little ol' shout of victory here either. Nope, we're talking an auditorium full of WOFers breaking Satan's hold on their lives by screaming bloody murder and hyperventilating for an hour, with a purple-faced Bob on stage howling above it all. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Naturally some of Bob's flock who liked the prosperity message of yore are having a problem with all this demon stuff. Local police responded to a disturbance call at a Sunday morning service this past March when church member Nathan Burgess began talking back to Tilton and refused to sit down. A contingent of parishioners walked out along with Burgess as he was led off by police. Strong prayer -- a message from God or Robert Tilton's decent into total madness?
Finally, Brother Derek wrote in to say how he was blessed recently while watching a rerun of Cops. The police were responding to a domestic disturbance call in a scummy part of town, and as they entered the suspect's residence and the camera panned across the living room, guess who was on the TV screen amidst all the squalor? Robert Tilton, his hand raised in the classic "point of contact" posture!