# I thought I had seen it all with religious shysters - but wow Peter Popoff ! Scum! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 22, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955 "2009-02-22T16:38:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Professor\_Murder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/90ced4/32.png) [@Professor\_Murder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Professor_Murder)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955/41 "2009-02-23T13:22:23Z")
Anybody stupid enough to send money to an obvious fraud like Poppoff deserves to be in the poorhouse. Like that woman in the news clip, she borrowed money from relations by lying to them claiming she was paying bills. She only stopped two months before the clip aired because she didn’t have money to buy food. I have never understood why anybody falls for this. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955/42 "2009-02-23T13:46:52Z")
Of the people named, let’s distinquish the ones who promise/sell miracles & preaches about Hell from the ones who don’t. Promises Miracles & Threatens Hell- Popoff. Doesn’t Sell/Promise Miracles, Does Preach Hell- the late Gene Scott The Van Impes Mother Angelica the late Bishop Sheen (Annoying? Totally not!) Doesn’t Sell/Promise Miracles, Doesn’t Preach Hell- Robert H. Schuller (the dad) Paul in Saudi: Beast of Revelation 13 & 17 has Seven Heads, Ten Horns & is a combo of the four Beast in Daniel 7. Daniel’s fourth Beast has ten horns & an eleventh one uproots three & dominates the rest. Back in the 1970’s the European Common Market/Economic Community was stalled at nine nations, then finally made ten. The eleventh one was seen as perhaps the one whose ruler would take over Europe to become the AntiChrist. Didn’t quite work out. In the LEFT BEHIND books, the UN divides the world after the Rapture into ten regions. The Chinese were also supposedly building a road that led to the Euphrates & were financing the building of dams there. That was seen as setting up the prophecy of Revelation 16 in which the Euphrates dries up so that the armies of the Kings of the East might come to Armageddon. I AM THE SDMB RAPTURISM EXPERT, BITCHES! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955/43 "2009-02-23T14:31:17Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Paul in Saudi: Beast of Revelation 13 & 17 has Seven Heads, Ten Horns & is a combo of the four Beast in Daniel 7. Daniel’s fourth Beast has ten horns & an eleventh one uproots three & dominates the rest. Back in the 1970’s the European Common Market/Economic Community was stalled at nine nations, then finally made ten. The eleventh one was seen as perhaps the one whose ruler would take over Europe to become the AntiChrist. Didn’t quite work out. Speaking as an earthling who is quite happy to NOT have his planet dominated by supernatural beasts, I’d say it worked out quite well. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955/44 "2009-02-23T14:51:03Z")
Who in their right mind would accept that a simple piece of bread would have some supernatural, god-sanctioned, miraculous properties to it? Next thing you know, they’ll be telling us they have some magic wine too. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955/45 "2009-02-23T15:37:56Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > He may be bad but one Sunday I caught a black bishop dressed in a very fancy purple religious outfit. He was selling blessed rubber bands for 25 bucks. The prick was too cheap to spring for decent trinkets.it gave me the creeps. How is your little troublemaker supposed to defend himself from the minions of Satan (and thereby come to understand God’s power, leading him to renounce his naughty ways) if you won’t buy him any +1 Holy rubber bands? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955/46 "2009-02-23T16:18:40Z")
Who was the guy who (ten or more years ago) said he thought the anti-Christ was alive right now and was a Jew. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955/47 "2009-02-23T16:25:50Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > I AM THE SDMB RAPTURISM EXPERT, BITCHES! 😉 Testify! 😃 Special honors to Oral Roberts’ claim that God would “call me home” if he didn’t raise $X million by a certain date. Nothing like accusing The Big Guy of an extortion/murder threat to get people to pony up the cash. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955/48 "2009-02-23T16:37:51Z")
Are those rubber bands +1 to hit or to damage? Also, do they do extra damage against evil creatures? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955/49 "2009-02-23T17:57:47Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > Who was the guy who (ten or more years ago) said he thought the anti-Christ was alive right now and was a Jew. Falwell ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955/50 "2009-02-23T18:25:16Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Are those rubber bands +1 to hit or to damage? Also, do they do extra damage against evil creatures? I can shoot rubberbands very well. They are a weapon against flies and serve as cat toys in my house. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955/51 "2009-02-23T19:11:27Z")
I know about Popoff and his general scumminess, but is this stuff really all that different in concept from using faux scientific claims to advertise for a product (an antiperspirant over here once was advertised as featuring special ‘deodorant-active ions’), or some other such sales pitch technique? It’s simple scummy marketing more than anything, really, just with more holy spirit and less cutesy animations of supercharged yoghurt cultures pummeling pathogens into submission. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955/52 "2009-02-23T19:17:29Z")
What gets me is that it seems that most people are writing this guy off because he’s slick and smarmy, and not for what he claims he can do. My crack about the magic wine had a point. This guy goes on TV and says, “Hey everybody, I have magic bread.” Aw, what a fruit-cake. Magic bread. Yeah right. Then turn around and go into any Catholic church and … “Hey everybody, I have magic bread.” … for which everybody lines up to get their chunk. In my mind, both situations are equally ludicrous and yet one is given the full weight of the faithful while the other is written off as goofball. ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955/53 "2009-02-23T19:34:22Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > What gets me is that it seems that most people are writing this guy off because he’s slick and smarmy, and not for what he claims he can do. > > My crack about the magic wine had a point. This guy goes on TV and says, “Hey everybody, I have magic bread.” Aw, what a fruit-cake. Magic bread. Yeah right. > > Then turn around and go into any Catholic church and … “Hey everybody, I have magic bread.” … for which everybody lines up to get their chunk. > In my mind, both situations are equally ludicrous and yet one is given the full weight of the faithful while the other is written off as goofball. No weight with me. All the same. You’re right. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955/54 "2009-02-23T19:57:25Z")
Well before we follow the last two posts to full Pit-dom, I find it remarkable the guy is still operating after all these years under more-or-less own name. You would figure he would be well-known as scam artist and would have changed his name to something that did not pop up on Wikipedia. But you would be wrong. His past misdeeds have no obvious impact on his revenue stream. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955/55 "2009-02-23T20:09:00Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > What gets me is that it seems that most people are writing this guy off because he’s slick and smarmy, and not for what he claims he can do. > > My crack about the magic wine had a point. This guy goes on TV and says, “Hey everybody, I have magic bread.” Aw, what a fruit-cake. Magic bread. Yeah right. > > Then turn around and go into any Catholic church and … “Hey everybody, I have magic bread.” … for which everybody lines up to get their chunk. > In my mind, both situations are equally ludicrous and yet one is given the full weight of the faithful while the other is written off as goofball. At least the Catholic Church gives its magic bread away for free. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955/56 "2009-02-23T20:21:01Z")
Good point. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955/57 "2009-02-24T04:01:11Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > It’s simple scummy marketing more than anything Nobody ever went broke selling empty symbols of hope to the hopelessly stupid. Doesn’t matter how the symbols are dressed up: diet and weight loss nostrums and regimes, cosmetic enhancements, bland comestibles soaked in the juicy goodness of God’s own love… it’s all just Maybe This Time Hopestuff. And it’s a trillion-dollar market. ---
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955/58 "2009-02-24T09:25:44Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Nobody ever went broke selling empty symbols of hope to the hopelessly stupid. Doesn’t matter how the symbols are dressed up: diet and weight loss nostrums and regimes, cosmetic enhancements, bland comestibles soaked in the juicy goodness of God’s own love… it’s all just Maybe This Time Hopestuff. And it’s a trillion-dollar market. For only $19.99 plus shipping and handling, I can send you a Mirakle Kloth\* that will banish the blight of such empty symbols from your life. This isn’t one of those old fashioned “Miracle Cloth” scams, it’s a Mirakle Kloth\* Skam\* that is “guaranteed” to “work”. For a full technical explanation of how Mirakle Kloth\* “works”, please send a self addressed stamped envelope to Not 3Trew Enterprises. Christians should send theirs to Department One, New Age believers to Department Two, and fans of alternative science to Department Three. \*Mirakle Kloth and Skam are wholly owned trademarks of Not 3Trew Enterprises, which is in no provable way affiliated with 3trew. Results may vary. I can guarantee that if pressed I could find at least one person to swear that the Mirakle Kloth had changed their life for the better. Even if they had never actually heard of or seen a Mirakle Kloth. People are strange. Offer void where challenged. Cashing of cheques in no way indicates acceptance of or intention to adhere to any of the above terms. Store credit only, no refunds. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955/59 "2009-02-24T12:14:53Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > At least the Catholic Church gives its magic bread away for free. So does Peter Popoff. However, both the Catholic Church and Peter Popoff subsequently hit their parishioners up for money afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955/60 "2009-02-24T14:00:09Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > Who was the guy who (ten or more years ago) said he thought the anti-Christ was alive right now and was a Jew. Revtim answered this already- Falwell. But that’s not THAT unusual a set of beliefs. Most Rapturists think, if Christ can come to start the Rapture at any moment, then Satan always has to have someone ready as a potential anti-Christ. When Falwell said that, Bill Maher’s PI was on the air & Richard Lewis was talking about this being blatant anti-Semitism, only to be challenged by… Bill Maher. Bill hastened to explain that he didn’t believe the “mythology” but he did understand it- that the anti-Christ was like “Jesus’s evil twin”. If he’s going to fool everyone into thinking he’s the Messiah, being of Jewish heritage would naturally be part of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-had-seen-it-all-with-religious-shysters-but-wow-peter-popoff-scum/486955.md?page=4)