God Stuff

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God Stuff was a segment on Comedy Central's The Daily Show which was shown on the program weekly from 1996 to 1998. The purpose of the segment was to poke fun at the bizarre and humorous behavior of certain televangelists. The segment's host was John Bloom (a.k.a. Joe Bob Briggs) and was produced by the Trinity Foundation's Wittenburg Door Christian humor magazine. The Trinity Foundation, besides publishing the Door, is best known for acting as a watchdog on televangelists who preach the Word Faith "prosperity gospel" and defraud donors. Bloom is a member of the group.

The segment was discontinued in 1998 and replaced by a similar segment hosted by Stephen Colbert called "This Week in God." The segments were taped by the Trinity Foundation and are posted regularly on the Door magazine's website. The Wittenburg Door also sells what it considers to be its best episodes on the DVD The Best of God Stuff.

Contents

[edit] Format

The format of the segment was a montage of clips from religious television shows, with quirky comments by Bloom put in between. A typical clip would feature an outrageous claim or action by an evangelist; an evangelist threatening congregants with divine retribution or the cancellation of his/her show if they fail to donate to a certain ministry; the spirit of God supposedly causing congregants to dance, laugh, or fall to the floor and shake as if in a seizure; or a "love gift" -- usually a minuscule product -- sold by an evangelist at an unusually high price.

The list of televangelists lampooned on "God Stuff" is vast, and just some of them included: Paul Crouch and his Trinity Broadcasting Network, Pat Robertson, Robert Tilton, W.V. Grant, Kenneth Copeland, Jonathan Bell, Benny Hinn, Marilyn Hickey, Mike Murdock, Rodney Howard-Browne, Jack Van Impe, Eugene Scott, Eddie Long, and Morris Cerullo.

[edit] Notable Clips

Many clips featured on "God Stuff" became the popular butt of jokes, some of them even becoming Internet memes. They included:

  • Benny Hinn's wife, Suzanne, giving a rambling sermon at his church during a service that was never aired on Hinn's television show. During the sermon, Suzanne Hinn told congregants that they needed "a Holy Ghost enema right up your rear end!"
  • Benny Hinn himself on during a TBN telethon wishing that God would "give me a Holy Ghost machine gun -- I'd blow your head off!"
  • Robert Tilton comparing himself to a "pink duck."
  • Pastor Arnold Murray attempting to brandish a handgun at a heckler during a taping of his show, Shepherd's Chapel.
  • Clips from the only two episodes of Jonathan Bell's public access television show, which usually have him ranting at a high-pitched voice. Bell was actually a guest of The Daily Show shortly before he was accused of child molestation and became a fugitive.

[edit] Possible Online Revival

The Trinity Foundation is currently considering a revival of "God Stuff", to be shown exclusively on the official website of The Wittenburg Door. The earliest new episodes are planned to be put online during the summer of 2007.

[edit] Links

"God Stuff" on the Wittenburg Door website