Bob, thanks for the memories.
     The last decade is bathed in a rosy glow from the fun we had together.
     Indeed, Robert Tilton – the subject of this issue's cover illustration was quality entertainment. He still is, if you can catch him on the BET network where he continues to pitch his health and wealth theology, Monday through Friday at 3:00 am Central Standard Time.
     I remember the time during his church's lavish Christmas pageant when he referred to the live donkey onstage as "Ole." My comment was, "well, God spoke to Baalam through his ass." And there as the time he looked into the camera and said about me, "This so-called minister, he ain't a minister, he's nothin'! He's less than nothing!"
     Well, at least he got that right.
     But what cut me to the quick was when he placed me among a group of "mealy-mouthed preachers."
     "I know one in particular that's not a minister at all, but an adulterer and a drunkard and a womanizer that's been caught in the clubs! Having the audacity to touch a prophet of God!"
     When my mother saw the show, she was upset and phoned me. "What's that about you being mealy-mouthed?" It was the closest I ever came to suing Tilton. His charge would never stand up in court.
     Ah, the '90s. We should have invested funds in the document shredder industry before we started pulling incriminating evidence out of Tilton's trash. That changed forever the nature of a televangelist's relationship with his waste disposal provider.
     But as much fun as we had with Tilton, a scripture kept re-surfacing that couldn't be ignored: "...wherein thou that judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest another doest the same things" (Romans 2:1).
     Does the above verse bother you as much as it does me? My mind is always judging ... this is good, that is bad; I like this style, I don't like that; he is intelligent, she is stupid; this weather is fantastic...You get the idea. Our human judgments are never-ending. Some would say the word "judgest" means condemn to hell, but we don't get off that easily. The Greek word is krino, and is variously translated as conclude, determine, distinguish, decide or give an opinion. Some even translate it as criticize. Our judgments define us as individuals, but also expose us as fallen creatures. The desire to judge good and evil was what got Adam and Eve kicked out of the garden. And if there is anyone I've judged, it's Robert Tilton.
     It began in the early 1980's when I first saw his TV program and the billboards all over Dallas with his picture prominently displayed. "Who does this guy think he is?" Later, I met a man who was about $500,000 in debt. He gave Tilton a $5,515 donation, hoping the "hundred-fold blessing" principle would fix his problems. Instead he lost his business, his wife divorced him and he was left with nowhere to live. We took him in, he started working for Trinity Foundation and he kept bugging me to look into Tilton's activities.
     Many of our readers know the story. We helped do a series of investigations of Tilton for CNBC, Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition, PrimeTime Live and other news progams that eventually got him off the air for a time.
     Tilton was investigated by the Texas Attorney General and sued 11 times by followers he had victimized. I lost count of the times he sued me and our organization. All I know is that the documents produced from the depositions I had to give are stacked taller than I am, and I'm 6' 3".
     Along with the Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swagart scandals, Tilton's legal troubles helped begin a national debate on the First Amendment and how to protect the public from fraudulent ministries. That debate is still going on.
     During those years, the further we went in our investigations, the weirder the Tilton universe became. Informants told us about fraud in his ministry, of money laundering, adultery and kinky sex, drug use and lying about everything from his credentials to his supposed personal attention to viewers' prayer requests.
     What was I to think? Didn't I have some right to judge this man, whose health and wealth theology caused sick people to stop taking their medicine and die, while he raked in hundreds of millions of dollars?
     When Tilton reviled me, I reviled him right back. I called him a snake oil salesman, a joke, a fraud, dumber than a box of rocks and someone who "has nothing to do with the God that I believe in." But on reflection, I was wrong. He does have something to do with God.
     The church needs people like Tilton, just as I personally do. Let me explain.
     Sure, I could justify judging Tilton, but only if I've never lied, never tried to manipulate someone, never had an illicit sexual thought, never ignored the needs of people around me, never tried to numb the grind of daily existence by seeking escape. Jesus was very clear about this. These are all just variations on the theme of self seeking.
     Even thinking about yourself is a sin. Remember, He told us to take no thought for our life.
     How can God expect us to meet that kind of standard? He doesn't. He knows we can't. Even the apostle Paul regarded himself as "the chief of sinners." That won't change. But God has provided a way for us to repent, to relinquish control of our lives, to leave ourselves behind. Then He'll do the rest.
     The church needs to take a glance in the mirror. Until we see Tilton's face in the reflection, we'll continue to wander in the deception of self-righteousness, never realizing we've left the narrow way.
     Repentance. Even Tilton can do that. Even you can.
     And even me.