I Used to Watch Trinity Broadcasting Network When I Was Newly Saved
I remembered back when I was looking for answers when I was newly saved. I remembered turning on Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) looking for answers to help me find the answers. I remembered when I was preached with the Gospel more than once and I heard an Anabaptist sermon by Pastor Danny Bornales from Cebu Island. I heard that it's all about receiving Jesus Christ as one's Lord and Savior. I heard the salvation message many times yet I wasn't saved. I was thinking is that all there is to it. One instance in TBN was that it talked about how bad people can enter Heaven. It talked about the life-changing power of the Gospel. However, many programs in TBN are garbage such as Benny Hinn's "This Is Your Day". TBN is run by charismatics and back then, I used to embrace Pentecostals as family. I was seeking for Protestant materials to help me grow in the faith because I could no longer agree with Catholicism. Yet, there were some moments that I believed (in part) Catholicism could be reformed or is still another Christian denomination when evidence suggests otherwise.
After I got saved, I did listen to some programs on TBN. There were some useful programs like talking about gambling, prostitution, abortion, and the like. I was liking Carman's music (though the guy revealed himself to be a wolf in sheep's clothing) and the Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) industry. I was seeking the Lord and I felt TBN was there. Though, I was also listening to the preaching of Bornales at the same time. Talk about a double-minded me since Bornales is a blatantly anti-Catholic Anabaptist pastor who had also exposed the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Iglesia ni Cristo as cults. TBN had useful stuff until I noticed that the presence of priests and nuns in some of the shows or even airing the cult El Shaddai with Bro. Mike Velarde. I was really like an infant tossed to and fro - something the Apostle Paul warned about in Ephesians 4:14. I watched the shows and had loved some of their programs. In fact, I also used to listen to Joel Osteen on TBN too during my growing up years. Osteen affirms the basics of salvation yet shows fruits of degeneracy throughout his ministry. Later, the late Robert Schuller was also part of that long list of people I dropped along the way. Schuller had some good sermons but self-contradicted himself as well.
After I got saved, I did listen to some programs on TBN. There were some useful programs like talking about gambling, prostitution, abortion, and the like. I was liking Carman's music (though the guy revealed himself to be a wolf in sheep's clothing) and the Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) industry. I was seeking the Lord and I felt TBN was there. Though, I was also listening to the preaching of Bornales at the same time. Talk about a double-minded me since Bornales is a blatantly anti-Catholic Anabaptist pastor who had also exposed the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Iglesia ni Cristo as cults. TBN had useful stuff until I noticed that the presence of priests and nuns in some of the shows or even airing the cult El Shaddai with Bro. Mike Velarde. I was really like an infant tossed to and fro - something the Apostle Paul warned about in Ephesians 4:14. I watched the shows and had loved some of their programs. In fact, I also used to listen to Joel Osteen on TBN too during my growing up years. Osteen affirms the basics of salvation yet shows fruits of degeneracy throughout his ministry. Later, the late Robert Schuller was also part of that long list of people I dropped along the way. Schuller had some good sermons but self-contradicted himself as well.
TBH is something that should be disregarded from the Christian life. Sure, there are useful programs but it doesn't mean that the channel is effective in Christian growth. Just because some people may have been saved watching TBN but it doesn't mean the teachers there are all effective. Maybe, somebody got saved listening to Osteen but that doesn't make Osteen a man of God either. Maybe, somebody got saved listening to "Hour of Power" with Schuller but the guy contradicts himself many times. Some people I knew got saved with the Billy Graham Crusades (which are also aired on TBN) yet the late Billy Graham was in sinful compromise with Rome. TBN should be disregarded as to having no part in the Christian's growth whatsoever.