Morris Cerullo
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| Morris Cerullo | |
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| Born | October 20, 1931 Clifton, New Jersey, U.S. |
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| Residence | San Diego, California |
| Occupation | Teleevangelist, Inspirational Speaker, Missionary,Author |
| Religious beliefs | Judaism, then Christianity (Pentecostal) |
Morris Cerullo (born October 20, 1931) is an international evangelist from San Diego, California.
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[edit] Biography
Morris Cerullo is an evangelist based in San Diego, California. He was born to a Jewish family in Passaic, New Jersey. While being respected by many people he is also a controversial personality. His parents died in a car accident when he was two years old. Being half Jew and half Italian he was raised in an orthodox Jewish orphanage in Clifton, New Jersey, which he recalls being lead out of by heavenly messengers. His experience led him to begin preaching at the age of sixteen after a having vision, from God, in which he witnessed the people suffering in Hell. He later attended and graduated from divinity school in New York state and began ministering with the help of his bride Theresa. There are many claims that people at his rallies were healed of serious medical conditions by the power of prayer. After the prayer many people came forward giving testimony of miracles that they feel have happened to them or to those they have brought with them to the meetings. His posters for a London appearance featured abandoned sticks and wheelchairs. For many years Morris Cerullo conducted repeated "Schools of Ministry" in several countries like Mexico, Brazil, The Philippines, Korea, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Indonesia ,Netherlands and many others. During these "SOMs" one of the days of the conferences he would preach in an open air crusade, or a large theater/arena, and lead people in a commitment to Jesus Christ and then would pray for healings to happen in the crowd. He would have the school of ministry students test the genuineness of the reports from the people's testimonies. After the large mass meetings he would charge the "SOM" school of ministry students to reach out to their countryman with the same message being inspired by the results of the public rally. Morris Cerullo often stated he was not the healer. He would encourage faith in, as he would say, "the written and the living word of God." He has been married to his wife, Theresa, for over 50 years. Cerullo still travels as a missionary in 2007.
[edit] Heritage USA
In 1990, Cerullo purchased, from the United States Federal Bankruptcy Court in Columbia, South Carolina, the assets of Jim Bakker's bankrupt ministry, PTL. These assets included the Heritage USA Christian theme park in Fort Mill, South Carolina which he purchased in partnership with Malayan United Industries (Berhad). After a dispute with his business partners over his issuance of discount cards to the theme park, the Malaysian entity bought out Cerullo's interest in Heritage USA.
[edit] The Inspiration Network
As a part of his agreement to purchase Heritage USA, the bankruptcy court also approved Cerullo's $7 million offer to purchase PTL's cable television network, The Inspirational Network, which was renamed INSP-The Inspiration Network and transferred into a new, separate entity, The Inspiration Networks. Cerullo’s son, David, has served as the corporation’s President & CEO, and as a member of its Board of Directors since its formation. In 2005 he was elected to serve as its Chairman. The organization, located in Charlotte, North Carolina, is currently building a new multi-million dollar broadcast headquarters facility known as “The City of Light” in Lancaster County, South Carolina.
[edit] Criticism
Cerullo has been indicted by a Grand Jury for IRS fraud. His ministry has been under investigation for years by the government for his fund raising practices. While no charges were brought against Cerullo's ministry, Cerullo was found to have underreported his income for 1998 through 2000. However, on August 8th, 2007, the US District Court, Southern District of California ordered that the indictment be dismissed as a consequence of the prosecutor's inaccurate explanation of the Duberstein test to the jury. The complete ruling can be viewed at [1]
Over the years Cerullo has been criticized for the manner and style of his fundraising[1][2] practices in the developed countries to finance his mission work. His record shows decades of much travel through out other parts of the world with those funds even in war zones. Many ministers and pastors all over the world attribute thanks to Morris Cerullo for coming to their country and being exhorted into the Christian ministry. Many effective ministers today view him as an apostolic style minister.
A documentary on the BBC, Newsround, reported that an epileptic woman stopped taking medicine after she believed herself to have been healed during Cerullo's rally. The woman subsequently died following a seizure in her bath.
In 1991, British authorities suspended the license of a satellite station for broadcasting the program, Victory with Morris Cerullo. The license was reinstated after the station agreed to precede the program with the disclaimer, "Morris Cerullo World Evangelism cannot substantiate the claims made by those participants featured in this programme," and advising all persons suffering from illness to seek medical attention.
In the 1999, the Christian Channel, a UK cable channel, broadcast an advertisement for one of Cerullo's European rallies which claimed that "Bible bashing hordes" had "occupied the principal palaces of power in Mars." As a result, the channel was fined £20,000 for breaching advertising codes requiring political impartiality, for denigrating other religious beliefs, for potentially frightening viewers, and for making statements prejudicial of "respect for human dignity."[3]
Many Christian apologists take issue with Cerullo's doctrinal slant, observing that it is often at variance with traditional, biblical Christianity (see external links).
