Joe.My.God. LGBT News
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports:
The Rev. Ernest W. Angley, a faith-healing Pentecostal televangelist who claimed a lifetime of personal visits from God, has died at age 99, according to an announcement Friday on the website of his Cuyahoga Falls-based ministry.
The preacher rose over the decades from tent revivalist to running a world-wide ministry with his namesake from what would be a vast home base in suburban Akron. Delivering his sermons in his distinctive drawl, Angley was one of the most influential modern-day faith healers and televangelists.
USA Today reports:
His sometimes-outrageous faith-healing claims drew sharp criticism from many, including officials in Munich, Germany, who arrested him in 1984 on charges of fraud and practicing medicine without a license, and officials in Guyana, who in 2006 blasted him for claiming he could cure AIDS.
Angley’s odd speaking voice, mannerisms and toupee made him an easy target for comedians. Superstar Robin Williams mimicked Angley with a character named “Rev. Earnest Angry.” Williams also spoofed the preacher on “Saturday Night Live,” on a comedy album and in the TV sitcom “Mork & Mindy.”
But while the comics and critics were piling on, Angley was spawning a megachurch that brought in so much money that by 2005 he was able to buy a $26 million Boeing 747, which he used for overseas mission trips.
Angley last appeared on JMG in early 2020 when he settled a sexual harassment suit brought by a young male pastor. In 2018 Angley was also sued for pressuring congregants to work for free at his for-profit restaurant, telling them they would be “blaspheming against the Holy Ghost” if they refused.
From the above-linked JMG post:
In 1996, internationally known televangelist Ernest Angley admitted to his assistant minister that he had had sexual relations with a man who was employed by their church, Grace Cathedral in Cuyahoga Falls. The telephone conversation was tape-recorded and made available to the Beacon Journal and Ohio.com last month.
The person who provided the tape did so for a promise of anonymity. That person felt called to action after reading about an exchange of lawsuits between Angley and another former Grace Cathedral pastor, the Rev. Brock Miller. Miller sued Angley in August, claiming that sexual abuse Angley inflicted upon him has caused permanent damage. Angley has countersued for defamation.
The source believed releasing the tape would show that Angley, who has preached vehemently against the “sin” of homosexuality, has a history of sexual abuse involving his employees. Angley has consistently condemned homosexuality. In a 1995 book called “Oh, God, What a Mess!” he wrote, “Homosexuality is vile, vile before God; and it will send souls to hell.”