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Prophets and losses: the Peter Popoff and Apostle Stewart guide to personal riches and spiritual fulfillment ... maybe.

Article Excerpt
YOU'RE WAITING FOR A BUS LATE AT NIGHT, when a shady character sidles up to you and whispers, "How'd you like to be catapulted into a brand new realm of supernatural power?"

He's hustling drugs, right? Crystal-meth, perhaps.

"No way man, no illegal substances," he says, "just Miracle Spring Water, guaranteed to bring you many mighty miracles. Or how about a lovely Bible Green Prosperity Handkerchief, which will bring you boundless wealth after spending one night folded in your wallet?"

This guy is nuts, maybe dangerous. So you tel him you're not interested and turn away, trying to act as if he's not there. But he gets nasty. He grabs your arm and starts threatening the wrath of God and the curse of Satan if you don't cough up some cash.

Now you're dialing 911 on your cellphone.

The cops will certainly haul this guy to jail ... Yes, unless he speaks in the name of the Lord and makes his pitch on late-night TV.

Check your local television schedule and it's likely that somewhere a station is running Peter Popoff's Peter Popoff Ministries or Apostle Don Stewart's Power and Mercy, where money rains from heaven and sight is restored to the blind thanks to Miracle Spring Water or Bible Green Prosperity Handkerchiefs.

Wait. Peter Popoff? The same Peter Popoff who James Randi exposed 20 years ago on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, by presenting a videotape of his visit to a Popoff faith-healing crusade? Carson's TV and studio audience first saw the usual images of the preacher approaching a sick woman in the crowd, appearing to know everything about her--name, address, and the disease requiring an immediate miracle cure--and then healing her in a flurry of dramatic gestures and shrill exhortations to Jayeeesus!

But Randi explained that he'd sneaked a radio scanner into the hall, and the device crackled with bizarre messages. Contact with the spirit world? No. Contact with Popoffs wife, reading from the prayer cards that each person attending the faith-healing crusade had filled out ahead of time with their names, addresses and specific ailments. Popoff later feigned sudden revelations, as his wife sat backstage relaying the provided information to him through a tiny wireless earphone, tucked deep in his ear

Exposed and disgraced, Popoff declared bankruptcy and it looked like he'd dropped out of the faith-healing game for good. But he's back, and it would appear that business is better than ever. On a recent episode of Popoff Ministries, Popoff makes a relentless pitch for Miracle Spring Water, what he calls, "a point of contact, a Biblical tool ... something you can touch, something you can see."

And how potent is this Miracle Spring Water?. A number of testimonials reveal that this is not your everyday straight-from-the-tap [H.sub.2]O: A woman claims she had a sudden windfall of $38,000, another says she received a Lincoln Navigator. All thanks to Miracle Spring Water! Harmless enough, until yet another woman makes the following brief but disturbing statement: "My doctor couldn't believe me. She said 'Miss Haskins, you don't need no medication.' I don't need nothing...

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