Latest News on Peter Popoff

It seems that Peter Popoff has lost a number of venues.

Six TV stations in Canada and 13 in the United States have removed Popoff from their programming schedules.

Likewise, Popoff’s infomercials no longer air in either Australia or New Zealand.

There are so many people who can – and should – take a bow for getting this done. I would like to give credit to dprjones, who got me inspired to start with this blog.

You can see the video I posted with the current situation on Popoff.

Please Do Not Vandalize Wikipedia

I was looking over the Wikipedia article for Peter Popoff, which you can see here, and I checked the history section to see how the article has been updated recently.

To my dismay, I noticed that some users had inserted insults toward Popoff in the body of the main article, which other users and mods had to revert.

If you are tempted to do something similar to the Wikipedia article, I sincerely ask you to reconsider that approach. The Wikipedia article, without the personal attacks, is a good first step for otherwise uninformed people to learn about Popoff’s history. Only an unbiased and factual approach to understanding Popoff’s personal and business history can be helpful in having him removed from the airwaves.

If you absolutely must post insults against Popoff on a wiki somewhere, you can visit the Encyclopedia Dramatica page here and try to make some additions of your own. Please remember that ED users and mods will judge every addition for its lulziness, rather than its factuality. If your additions do not promote lulz, they will likely be removed.

Wikipedia is not perfect, but I feel that it is a good source of information for people looking for answers in a short period of time and the mods do work very hard to keep the articles factual and based on a neutral point of view.

Again, please no vandalism at Wikipedia.

To Begin June 6th: “Operation Downfall”

I am officially announcing the beginning of “Operation Downfall“, as far as I know, it will be the first organized effort to have Peter Popoff’s programs removed from the airwaves in the USA, Canada and the UK at the same time.

As with the original Operation Downfall (the cancelled American invasion of the Japanese mainland in World War Two), this campaign will consist of two parts: Operation Olympic and Operation Coronet.

During Operation Olympic, everyone who wishes to participate is asked to begin contacting the stations that air Peter Popoff’s infomercials. Emails, postal letters, faxes and phone calls are just as good. Everyone who wishes to participate is encouraged to spread the word among your friends and family to also send complaints to TV stations and networks.

Make sure to contact the Programming Department, since they are actually responsible for what that station puts on the air.

If you contact a local station, make sure to also contact the station’s owners to give your complaint more weight.

Certain networks – The Travel Channel, The Learning Channel, The Word Network, MyNetwork TV and TV ONE – may be easier to convince to remove Popoff from their lineup. However, the Black Entertainment Television (BET) is the network that airs the most Popoff infomercials during the week and may be more difficult.

BET seems to have an affinity for selling broadcast time to disgraced preachers. Aside from Popoff, they also broadcast Leroy Jenkins, Don Stewart and Robert Tilton. Obviously, BET has little apparent qualms of selling airtime to people like this. In fact, it appears that Tilton is the source of the idea for Popoff to send little trinkets in the mail to potential donors, as he was doing this back in his own heyday.

Whatever the case may be, the first few weeks of this may see some successes, but it appears unlikely that BET would let go of Popoff, given their practise of allowing other similar preachers to buy airtime. So, a more organized action in regards to BET will be put-off until a later date, though you should still send in your complaints.

If Peter Popoff broadcasts from a local station in your State or Province (in the USA or Canada) write letters to the editors of your local newspapers drawing attention to the fact that Popoff is being broadcast locally and asking readers to send their complaints to the station as well. Post on Craigslist “Rant & Raves” or in any other local forum.

Make people aware of Popoff’s history. The vast majority of people will be initially unaware and will react with shock and disgust at the fact that such a person who was publicly revealed as a fraud years ago would not only come back to the same profression, but would be so financially rewarded as a result.

Contact your local Council of Churches or similar organization and ask for them to lend their voice to this campaign. Find Christian groups who are active in fighting fraud and abuse from the pulpit and ask for them to join the fight.

While so many people know about Peter Popoff, there has never been an single organized effort to remove him from the airwaves. The complaint, here and there, makes little difference. But, if complaints start coming in and keep coming in for weeks, the situation would be much different.

Depending on the results of Operation Olympic, Operation Coronet should begin in a few weeks. While Olympic will be pretty basic – contacting stations and their owners – Coronet will be more complex and may take longer than Olympic does. But, we will see about that when Olympic concludes.

If you get replies from TV stations or networks that they no longer air Popoff or they plan to remove him from their broadcasting lineup, please contact me, so I can update the blog. If you receive a reply from them that basically tells you to get lost, let me know about that also.

This Saturday, June 6th, the anniversary of the D-Day landings at Normandy in 1944, we begin the job of removing Peter Popoff from the airwaves and back into obscurity. When the stations’ staff and department heads return to work Monday morning, I am hopeful that they will see hundred of emails in their Inboxes, phone messages in the voicemail and a pile of letters on their desks.

If we get it started and keep it going, we can finally rid the airwaves of Peter Popoff. This cannot be done by any single person, it can only be accomplished by getting as many people as possible working for the common goal.

All the contact information you require is on this blog.

Let’s get started.

On June 6, 2009, the pwnage begins and if we succeed, it will be epic!

Made A Few Changes

In case you have previously visited and think that the blog looks different now: you are correct.

Since new information comes my way frequently, I realized that valuable information can get buried fairly quickly.

1. contact information for television stations and networks that broadcast Peter Popoff have been merged into a single page and placed in a link at the top of the blog;
2. Contact information for government and advocacy organizations where you can file complaints against Popoff was moved to a page;
3. the pages Why I Am Doing This, Dedication and Contact Me were merged into a single page and titled About Me. This blog isn’t about me, it is dedicated to the fight against Peter Popoff. Once Popff is off-the-air and in permanent retirement and obscurity, there will no longer be a reason for this blog to exist and it will probably be shutdown. But, rather than deal with questions about my motivations, as well as give people a way to contact me, I have the About Me page to answer those questions.

One final point and this is directed to Peter Popoff, his family, his friends, his employees and his supporters who intend to contact me and tell me to shut this blog down immediately or want to tell me how I am interfering with the Freedom of Religion or how I am persecuting Christians or similar things: Please watch the video below to receive your answer.

Popoff Even Caught the Attention of DISCOVER Magazine

It’s just a brief mention, but any mention of the fact that this bastard is making a comeback is good news for us.

Here’s the link

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/05/10/and-the-blind-shall-see/

Warnings About Popoff Making News in the UK

Peter Popoff has some church leaders in the United Kingdom worried about him.

Here’s a story I found today:

Warning over religious letters

Published Date: 27 May 2009

By Angela Reed

Chief reporter

CHURCH bosses have issued a warning over religious letters promising “powerful prophecies” in exchange for cash.

Norma Sanders, 70, from South Shields, has had a number of mailshots in the last few weeks from Brother Peter Popoff, whose ministry is based in America.

One included a square of blue cloth, described in the letter as a “New Testament anointed prophet’s shirt piece”, and promised access to 14 prophecies.

Another was seven-pages long and included a “very powerful circle of divine blessing”, promising “several very clear visions about your past, present and future”.

Both asked for the items to be returned to a London PO Box address with an amount of money ranging from £20 to more than £107 – or “whatever you feel”.

Mrs Sanders: “There are vulnerable people out there who may think this is the answer to all their problems.

“I don’t want anyone to be duped by reading that.”

Trading Standards officers at South Tyneside Council are probing the letters from California-based Brother Popoff, who claims to be a faith healer.

He also claims to receive divine revelations about people who attend his services, as well as those whom he contacts via mass mailings.

In 1986, he was left bankrupt after an exposé on his methods by an American journalist, but more than 20 years later, he has developed a faithful new following.

But Bernadette Askins, chairman of Churches Together in South Tyneside, said a bona fide religious organisation would not approach people in this way.

She said: “I would treat this with extreme caution and not send any money.

“I can understand people feeling under pressure and being very anxious about such appeals, but many of them are really a confidence trick.

“We would strongly advise that people just take no action. If in doubt, talk to your minister or priest.”

Coun Joanne Bell, lead member for safer and stronger communities, said: “We would advise our residents to be cautious about sending money to any individual or organisation they do not know.

“In the present economic climate, we are seeing more and more unsolicited letters and e-mails from bogus psychics, fake lotteries and individuals claiming to want to move money from THIRD WORLD countries.

“Sadly, these kinds of letters and e-mails can prey on vulnerable adults in South Tyneside and they all share a common goal – to part
people from their hard-earned cash.”

Anyone who has received a similar letter and would like to talk to Trading Standards can contact Consumer Direct on (08454) 04 05 06.

Source http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/Warning-over-religious-letters.5304929.jp

Popoff Booted from Australian TV

It seems that Peter Popoff has been permab& from Australia’s Channel Nine.

I so love Australia, right now.

“PROGRAM POPS OFF

The ailing insomniac’s best friend, the Reverend Peter Popoff, has had his early-morning television infomercials referred to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for potential inclusion on its ScamWatch website by the NSW Fair Trading Minister, Virginia Judge. Popoff, a self-styled “faith healer” exposed by the American sceptic James Randi on camera on the American ABC network in 2007, spruiks “free Miracle Spring Water” on his 3am slots. But he appears to have mysteriously vanished from the Channel Nine schedule after ABC TV’s Media Watch asked whether Nine was pocketing a fee for screening the half-hour Peter Popoff Ministries.”

Source: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/a-big-week-for-schapelle-corby-20090525-bjn9.html?page=-1

Popoff’s Lavish Lifestyle

One thing that most of us know about Jesus was that he was a poor man of humble beginnings. A carpenter from a small town, he likely never had a lot of money. As an adult, he placed little emphasis on material wealth and encouraged his followers to do the same, even encouraging people to sell everything they had, give the proceeds to the poor and follow him.

“Jesus said unto him, If thou wouldest be perfect, go, sell that which thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.” (Matthew 19:21)

Jesus himself claimed to have no place to live, being voluntarily homeless, in addition to being poor.

“And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20)

How different it is with the likes of Peter Popoff.

According to the website Christian Issues, Peter Popoff has lived in homes with values far beyond the reach of most of the people that donate money to him. You can find the pages relevent to Peter Popoff here.

Courtesy of Brian Karjala, I present to you the assorted homes that Peter Popoff has purchased in recent years. I would like to than Brian for having done the research, at his own expense, and for allowing me to use the information he has gathered. Without people like him, this effort would be far more difficult. To his credit, Brian runs the website Christian Issues and accepts no donations from anyone to support his work. Everything he does, he does out of a concern for the Church and its people.

Now, as for Peter Popoff’s homes and condos:

In Claremont, CA, there is a home with 5 bedrooms, 5 baths and 4,891 sq ft. This home is now for sale and you can buy it, if you have $1,300,000 laying-around. Okay, five bedrooms I can figure-out, but five bathrooms?  Who the hell needs five bathrooms?

Popoff took out a deed on a condo in Newport Beach, CA consisting of 3 beds, 2.5 baths, and 1,596 sq ft. This condo is also for sale at the bargain price of $695,000.

In 2004, he took out a deed on another house in Upland, CA valued at  $939,500.  Popoff seems to like this one, since it is not for sale at the moment. It has 3 beds, 3 baths and 4,586 sq ft.

Of course, Popoff doesn’t need to take the bus home from work since he drives a 2006 Porsche convertible worth $90,000.

It makes me wonder about how Jesus might feel about Peter Popoff, preaching in His Name, yet living a lifestyle more akin to a member of royalty.

Now, this is not unique to Popoff, by any means. There are and have always been ministers of the Gospel who lived in luxury while their followers were mostly poor. You’ll find  it in nearly every denomination of the Christian Church.

But, Popoff is one “minister” who got caught red-handed and exposed on national television. His material possessions are such that it makes you wonder exactly how much of a connection he really has with that humble carpenter from Nazareth.

Email List Manager for Popoff’s Ministry

If you subscribe to Peter Popoff’s email list, you will receive this message:

Thank you for joining our mailing list

From: “Peter Popoff Ministries” <peterpopoffnewsletter@gmail.com>
To: (your email address)

Peter Popoff Ministries

Welcome!

Valued Subscriber,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Welcome to Peter Popoff Ministries. We are happy to have you as a member of our community. Your email address and interest preferences have been recorded in our database. In the future, you will receive periodic emails specific to your interests.Privacy is important to us; therefore, we will not sell, rent, or give your name or address to anyone. At any point, you can select the link at the bottom of every email to unsubscribe, or to receive less or more information.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks again for registering. If you have any questions or
comments, feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,

Peter Popoff MinistriesPeter Popoff Ministries

————————————————————
email: peterpopoffnewsletter@gmail.com web: http://www.peterpopoff.org
————————————————————

Forward email
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Privacy Policy:
http://ui.constantcontact.com/roving/CCPrivacyPolicy.jsp

Email Marketing by
Constant Contact (R)
http://www.constantcontact.com

Constant Contact is a company in Watham, MA that handles email lists for corporations and they have a very detailed Terms of Service that makes it clear that this company wishes to adhere to ethical policies regarding the use of the lists it maintains for its clients.

It’s just a guess on my part, but I believe that Constant Contact is likely unaware of Popoff’s history. He’s probably just another client of theirs. In the time I have been subscribed to the list, I have not received any messages after the first one.

If you want to send an email to Constant Contact, asking them to cancel their contract with Peter Popoff or, at least, make them aware of Popoff’s past activities, you can go to their contact page at this link http://www.constantcontact.com/contact/index.jsp

This email list appears to be secondary to Popoff’s direct mailing lists, so is not of major importance. But, anything we can do to cut Popoff’s lines of communication with the public is a good thing.

I have found no direct links between Popoff and Constant Contact, beyond the managing of the email list, so please be courteous when you email them.

dprjones’ “Peter Popoff Challenge”

On 4 April 2009, YouTube user dprjones posted “The Peter Popoff Challenge” as a small way to frustrate Peter Popoff’s attempt to swindle the gullible and desperate masses that he reaches out to everyday via his television infomercials. Here is that video:

Entries would be judged by: dprjones, mikefoz, terrarising, stefzula and JRChadwick. As other YouTubers made responses to this video, they were all judged for comedic content and originality. One of the judges, terrarising, posted a video explaining his reasons for participating

As dprjones was suspended from YouTube for several days, the judging was interrupted and the video responses to the initial challenge were lost. However, the judges were able to go by memory and many of the responses are still posted. Ultimately, a winner was chosen, with some assistance from JaguarJOnes who provided technical expertise via the Miracle Spring Water and Hocus-Pocus Claims Department of the JaguarJOnes Institute.

YouTube user qdragon1337 posted this video and is the Official Winner of “The Peter Popoff Challenge”. I have posted the video below.

Congratulations, qdragon1337! The WINRAR is YOU!!!