You’re expecting these types of Christians to read the bible?

“For I was hungry, and you gave Me food. I thirsted, and you gave Me drink. I was a stranger, and you took Me in to you.” -The Bible

“Hate all immigrants and give my money to organizations that are already extremely wealthy, got it. -American evangelicals

If you listen thru the whole episode tbh you can hear which statements they’re making are doing work to make people see the debt as Christian to take on for the organization

There’s both some amount of magical ‘God will figure out the debt for you’ and some amount of just like ‘don’t you want to say yes Lord, take this savings account, this 401k, and this mortgage from me, for you are so much greater and I trust in you!’ and 10 seconds later realizing what you actually did was you just signed a deal that takes out 4 credit cards and maxes them all out

“Camel through a needles eye”

They sure seem to be good about enabling poverty for others.

funnily enough one of the advertisements I got was another scam christian thing.

Only godless commies read the Bible.

Crazy what rich people are willing to do to poor people to get richer, and how vulnerable poor people can be to losing their money to this stuff. Sad shit.

If you watch the whole episode they really dive into how this is done. The whole conceit around the organization is building wealth so you can use it in a “Christian way” and help the “kingdom” of god. They bombard you with the message of faith without action is not faith at all, so if you’re not taking action here and signing up for our wealth building classes are you even really Christian? They’ll even quote bible verses that say things like “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” They have speakers who will tell stories of going a million dollars into debt for something and praying to god they could pay it back. Then they’ll say by the grace of god they were able to pay back the loan in just three years, and don’t worry if you pray hard enough god will do the same for you.

At the most predatory events they heavily push people to sign up for classes that cost tens of thousands of dollars. They know most people don’t have that money available so they partner with companies that basically find credit cards these people will get approved for that offer 0% interest for a year. They’ll stack those offers so someone will walk away with \(20,000 spread over multiple credit cards all with 0% for 12 months. They obviously can't pay that back in 12 months if they needed a credit card for it to begin with, so after a year they're stuck with like an \)18,000 balance over multiple cards with an APR of 30%. They’ll even pressure people into taking a HELOC out on their house to finance the classes.

But hey if you’re uncomfortable with doing any of this that’s fine, but then I guess you need to ask yourself if you’re even a real Christian. After all, faith without action is not faith at all. It’s fine if you don’t want to be a real Christian.

It’s predatory as fuck.

I always just think, if they really had a genius way to make a shitload of money then why would they not just be doing that instead of asking you to pay them to teach you the thing.

Like, surely, just continuing to use their “secret method” would net them way more cash than running classes teaching a bunch of other people to do it lol

a lot. It’s two separate things.

maybe if your main source is televangelists and prosperity gospel grifters

I can actually believe that Tebow is that gullible that he legitimately things these people are doing good and that it’s not a scam. Granted the fact that he and his reps totally refused to comment on this does kinda force me to start leaning toward the idea that he’s in on the grift. Like, if you truly believe in this program and its righteousness, you should be welcoming the platform being offered to tell the good news about it. Refusing to even comment gives the suspicion that you know what you are doing is wrong.

Some people sincerely believe if you have faith and keep plugging away, God will take care of it. It wouldn’t surprise me if Tebow sincerely believes his NFL career was provided by God because he and his mom are so devout.

Especially someone surrounded by the amount of shitty people on Florida’s football team.

Such a shameful thing to do. And people who are deeply Christian are so much more vulnerable due to their beliefs and willingness to submit to people who they think are religious authorities. I also think that someone who is extremely devout in a religion as mystical and prescriptive as modern evangelicalism are far more likely to be uneducated and unintelligent. They are perfect marks for this kind of scam.

Is Tebow involved in shady businesses too?

Yeah, it’s limited to that. There’s been a lot of information out there already even before this report about Life Surge exploiting its attendees, this just revealed how bad it was. And he is scheduled to speak at their conference encouraging people to give more money again in November.

Unlikely that Magic didn’t know that the attendees wouldn’t receive eternal salvation if they donated $50K?

Also unlikely that Magic didn’t know that participating in orgies with men and women without condoms would lead to HIV?

Lakers and evil is kinda like clippers and a pile of dog shit. It’s synonymous with each other. Very fitting.

I would say telling people to open multiple credit cards, take out a home equity loan and more to pay for these “courses” is lot worse than dropping a few bucks in the collection plate or pushing people to donate.

Because there’s something fundamentally wrong with convincing people to give up their life savings for something intangible. Jesus isn’t going to pay the grocery bills.

Not evil??¿?

People don’t even know what a ‘snitch’ is. Someone from the outside can’t be a snitch. MFers are just dumb as hell

Do you have a good source for that? I’m not doubting it I’d just like a good source to read up on and educate myself with and possibly pass that info onto others.

True. Lakers fans are pretty spineless.

What do they mean?

because true investigative reporting takes a loooot of time and due diligence. Go watch the movie Spotlight. That investigation took years before they published. Think about it, they knew priests were raping kids as young as 4 years old but they had to hold it and only release at the right time.

I think the Ballmer case was the perfect investigative story for him to really grow his presence. So much of what is going on these days makes you feel legitimately terrible about the world. And while Ballmer broke NBA rules and possibly federal laws, the case is fundamentally about him wanting to pay a basketball player to play for his basketball team. I’m not defending him at all, don’t get me wrong. But it’s perfect in that it’s a crime that is really interesting but doesn’t make you feel bad.

The one where him, Katie Nolan, and Soder trialing athlete branded weed is a gem

i’ll always love Pablo for having an episode with the GOAT Bernard Purdie

Absolutely. I’m currently listening to him and his guests argue if you can puke out of your butt.

Giannis free throws for chicken was also legendary

Hell yeah. Purdie Shuffle deserves its shine too

The one where player finds out coach is actually his biological dad was my fav

His episode on sports and human rights is fantastic, as is his episode with Lina Khan.

one episode they were talking about the most popular online fetish content by state, and then hardcore journalism the next episode. podcast equivalent of listening to a beck album where he does fun prince pastiches and then one with serious singer songwriter vibes

Unfortunately the good journalist have been getting squashed since like 3 or 4 national corporations have been gobbling up smaller outlets. It’s good when independents like Pablo are able to find a way to get their voices out

Also evident that there is a huge appetite for good sports journalism. Hope larger media organizations take note.

I’d also say there haven’t been many trustworthy OUTLETS. Or outlets that will pay.

I’m sure you’d get a ton of Pablo Torre’s if news outlets would pay them big money. But a place like ESPN would rather give Stephen A Smith 30 mil a year to shout on tv on mute in every airport in the country.

Exactly. Without taking anything away from Pablo in the least-because he’s been doing fantastic work-but he’s not some miracle worker here.

Investigative journalism simply has faded as a priority from many publications because it’s expensive and isn’t “lucrative” in the same way other kinds of media are. But as we’ve seen, it sure is necessary. And I think Pablo’s success has and will absolutely inspire more people to go that route especially if it’s successful enough to convince other outlets to invest in it. I don’t expect to see anything from ESPN of course—too much corporate conflict of interest for them ever to give a reporter that level of freedom—but I feel like within a year, we’ll see other folks begin to pop up.

Not sure why this is so upvoted. Theres tons of good journalists, there’s just no money in journalism.

You mean like respected and not shill Ramona Shelbourne?

Snowden ending up in exile in Russia probably also put a bit of a chilling effect on people wanting to come forward. Helps that Pablo found sports is an excellent entry point to stick it to The Elite while not having to worry being on some FBI list with other “Dissidents”.

FYI If you have something you’d consider “Evidence” go to a lawyer and try to get a Whistleblower Reward not a journalist.

It’s not even about trust, the sports media just doesn’t even try anymore. Newspapers got decimated and what’s left is mainly hype men.

*The world

Is the prosperity gospel a thing outside of the US? It’s so predatory and fucking nuts.

Everybody pray to Supply Side Jesus

This is exactly right. We have wrapped God and capitalism together around the spine of the American way. Money is our actual God, and the only way to be virtuous is to either have a lot of it, or worship those who do.

I think a lot of it is people picking a faith that helps justify their actions. If you are making money or believe in American exceptionalism, how convenient is it that theres a religion that turns you into God’s chosen people

Well were talking semantics now.

You’re talking about tens of millions of people. Some of them unquestionably are grifters.

But there are a lot of people that capitalist Christianity is indeed a religion and they believe that shit VERY strongly

History is full of religious fraudsters and grifters and crackpots and cult leaders who were also true believers. My favorite archetype of this trope is Jan Matthys, because he was an opportunistic charlatan by all appearances but ultimately proved his faith was unimpeachable. There are plenty of modern examples too, though.

People can rationalize nearly anything.

Good to point out, and most news comes from people working together. Pablo’s team is amazing from what I see.

Also major props to her for sitting through all those days of these events. Was probably boring as hell

That’s her in the video too.

They’ll only care if the public cares. And the American public…

It’s not impossible that something could happen. But America has a long history of aggressive and impactful investigative journalism and very few confirmed stories of violent retaliation. Although, post-Epstein I’m willing to believe that there is legitimate danger. However, I think the risk-reward ratio for one of these individuals or organizations murdering him is probably unfavorable.

Yall watch too many movies.

He has gasbag magic to protect him

With his “needle”

Sir?

Ur a fuckin loser

So gross. Can’t believe people are upvoting this.

It’s so true but even pointing this fact out makes you sound conceited as fuck (and I can’t say I blame people for thinking that).

I grew up in an affluent suburb of Boston and this was the kind of place where the typical net worth was in the low millions, some were in the tens, a couple in the hundreds and a couple that were in the tres comma club or close to it (not that you’d know it from the outside looking in, but that’s a whole other thing)

And when you live in those circles, the massive differences in how these people live (and their level of influence) becomes so apparent in a way that just doesn’t happen if you live outside of that world entirely. It’s the difference between ‘putting my kids through college without loans, retiring in your early 60s, owning a summer house’ and ‘money is literally no object, if you want something you buy / lease it with nothing more than a phone call’

There’s degrees to this shit. I do well and I think if I added up my retirement accounts, my brokerage account, my savings and my car, I end up close to a million. But I promise I have no power or influence over anyone except for my dog, and even that comes down to what kind of mood she’s in.

Cool story bro but it’s the billionaires not anyone that’s above poverty level

And it includes Pablo himself lol.

Reddit is pure class warfare and cope. People who have more than you are easy to hate…

Data please

Once I become an evil billionaire I’ll send you 1,000,001 and let the darkness consume you.

honestly world would be a lot better if individual net worth was capped at 999 million

Who could’ve guessed that the flashpoint to the French American Revolution #2 (Electric Boogaloo) would be reporting from a Filipino Harvard Grad.

Not trying to discredit you but it has?

Uhh I mean it was in conjugation right? Torre connected with her to send her in person to our of the conferences etc etc. at least that’s what I got from watching the video.

Getting it in front of eyeballs is not as, but still important.

Have you ever heard of that company?