From: NewNowNext
Televangelist Jan Crouch, who cofounded Trinity Broadcasting Network in 1973, passed away yesterday after a recent stroke.
“Laurie and I have just watched the transition of our precious mother from this world to the next; watched her step into the presence of Jesus and into her heavenly reward,” wrote Crouch’s son Matt in a statement. “[She] loved many things, but most of all she loved Jesus, and now has seen him face to face and has experienced his grace in fullness.”
Crouch, widow of the late TV preacher Paul Crouch, was something of an over-the-top figure, with cotton-candy hair, ample bosom and lip gloss applied by the gallon. But “Momma Jan,” as she was known, helped to create a Christian media empire that reaches millions of viewers via more than 18,000 television and cable affiliates.
She also oversaw the Holy Land Experience, a biblical theme park in Orlando.
With their lavish lifestyle and constant calls for donations, the Crouches seemed to embody the kind of “prosperity theology” popularized by televangelists of the 1980s—that wealth is a blessing from God, and donations to ministries will result in a windfall for believers.
Like Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker before them, the Crouches were plagued with scandals: There were claims of financial misdeeds and fraudulent cancer “cures” promoted on TBN.
In 2004, the Los Angeles Times reported that Paul and Jan lived separate lives, and that Paul had an affair with a male employee. Enoch Lonnie Ford claimed he had been payed $425,000 to keep quiet about their relationship, which he said Crouch pressured him into.
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