As televangelist Benny Hinn spoke at the SpiritLIFE Conference last month in Chicago, YouTuber Tyler Oliveira ran onto the stage and shouted, “Benny Hinn is a false prophet, a fake healer and snake-oil salesman.” With security approaching, the YouTuber yelled that Hinn “is abusing the Word of God!” Guards then led Oliveira away, as he protested their rough treatment.

In a 30-minute video, Oliveira shared footage of the encounter, as well as his investigation into other high-profile prosperity gospel preachers. Titled “I Exposed the Most Corrupt Churches in America,” the May 29 episode has been viewed more than 3.7 million times.

RELATED: Benny Hinn Promises Those Who ‘Sow Seed’ Money Will Be Protected During the Darkest Days ‘In the History of Mankind’

Oliveira, 25, also visited Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston, Kenneth Copeland’s ministry near Fort Worth, Texas, and The River at Tampa Bay Church in Florida. He interviewed people who said prosperity preachers peddle false hope and cherry-pick Bible verses like “scriptural macaroni.”

Oliveira also talked to family members who blamed prosperity teachings and faith healers for straining their relationships with loved ones.

Benny Hinn to Accuser: ‘Brother, Calm Down’

In his video, Tyler Oliveira explained that he bought a $99 ticket to attend last month’s SpiritLIFE Conference. After he interrupted Benny Hinn, the preacher calmly said, “Enough is enough, brother. Enough is enough.”

RELATED: Mike Winger Says Benny Hinn Is Not a Christian During Interview With Charisma

Guards wrestled Oliveira to the floor as he shouted, “I’m peaceful! I’m peaceful!” Hinn continued, “Somebody help the dear man out. It’s all right, no problem. Brother, calm down.”

Narrating the footage afterward, Oliveira said the guards gave him “the George Floyd treatment,” leaving him “fighting for each breath.” Meanwhile, his cameraman was “captured and beaten with his own camera.”

According to the cameraman, guards hit him twice with a golf cart, tackled him, and then threw him into a busy street. “Then they grabbed my camera, and they were trying to delete the footage,” he said from a hospital bed.

Oliveira explained:

This video is by no means meant to be an attack on faith but rather a demand for accountability to those who distort the word of the Bible, [targeting] the biblically illiterate, desperate, naive, and poor to make themselves wealthy. And in the words of Matthew 7:15, “Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

Visiting YouTuber Senses ‘God Is Like a Miracle Machine’

While visiting Lakewood Church, Oliveira was amazed by the size of the 16,000-seat arena and the quantities of product in the bookstore. During a meet-and-greet session after worship, the YouTuber came face to face with Osteen, ostensibly to get a book signed.

Instead, he asked the pastor, “Do you think you’ve used the Word, the Lord’s Word, to profit, like, grossly? Do you think you’ve distorted the Lord’s Word to make money?”

RELATED: ‘Who’s Perfect?’—Benny Hinn Discusses Ministry ‘Regrets’ Amid Fresh Wave of Criticism

Before Osteen could answer, security pulled Oliveira away from him. “Clearly Joel didn’t want to give me anything besides an opportunity to buy his newest book,” the YouTuber said in his voiceover.

According to photos and video obtained by Robbie Harvey, controversial Pastor John-Paul Miller has married Suzie Skinner, a woman from his congregation with whom some believe he had an affair while the two were married to other people. 

The death of Miller’s former wife Mica in 2024 made national headlines because of allegations that Miller was abusive. Moreover, authorities recently reopened an investigation into the death of Skinner’s former husband, Chris, who drowned in 2021 and whose death was determined at the time to be an accident.

“John-Paul Miller and Suzie Skinner are getting married right now in Myrtle Beach,” said Harvey in a social media post on Sunday June 1. “If JP and Suzie believe this union will save them from testifying against each other… well… I’ve got some bad news.”

“Spousal Privilege doesn’t apply to premarital communications. Translation… Suzie doesn’t have a choice,” said Harvey. “Every crime, text, conversation, action, EVERYTHING before today… Suzie Skinner will be forced to testify.”

“The deaths of their spouses are currently under investigation,” Harvey noted. “Mica Miller’s death is under FBI investigation. Chris Skinner’s death is under investigation by the Horry County Coroners Office.”

RELATED: Embattled Pastor John-Paul Miller Accused in Lawsuit of Raping 15-Year-Old in 1998, Assaulting Same Person in 2023

John-Paul Miller, Suzie Skinner Wed at the Beach

John-Paul Miller and his deceased wife, Mica, have been in the headlines since April 28, 2024, when Miller took time at the end of Sunday service at his former church, Solid Rock at Market Common in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to tell his congregation his wife had died by suicide. Miller said that Mica, who passed away April 27, had mental health challenges and had struggled with suicide in the past.

However, former Solid Rock congregant, Angela Clark, who was a friend of Mica’s, said Mica had filed for divorce and was attempting to get out of “an abusive marriage.” Additional troubling details emerged in the following weeks, resulting in the movement “Justice for Mica.” 

Miller has emphatically denied abusing Mica, and despite speculation that Miller was responsible for her death, officials have ruled that Mica did indeed die by suicide. Investigators found that Miller was with another woman at the time of Mica’s death. He was also seen with Suzie Skinner days after Mica’s death.

On Friday, Nov. 1, FBI agents executed a search warrant at Miller’s house, removing a number of items, including a computer. FBI spokesperson Kevin Wheeler would not confirm to ChurchLeaders the reason for the search on the grounds that “this is an ongoing matter.” 

(RNS) — The Rev. William J. Barber II’s ex-wife has asked a judge to look into allegations that the civil rights and anti-poverty leader has been paying her alimony from the finances of his nonprofit.

Barber, who has been leading “Moral Mondays at the Capitol” to oppose the federal budget bill and was arrested as part of those demonstrations last month, is president of Repairers of the Breach, a nonprofit social change organization based in North Carolina.

In a court filing in in Durham County, North Carolina, Rebecca Barber, the preacher’s ex-wife, alleges that since November 2023, Repairers of the Breach has issued William Barber monthly checks for $7,000 to a joint personal bank account shared by Barber and his ex-wife, “under the guise of alimony or financial support.” Rebecca Barber alleges this check is above and beyond Barber’s annual salary. She asked that Repairers of the Breach be treated as a third party — like another spouse — in the Barbers’ ongoing dispute over property division.

RELATED: Rev. William Barber Arrested in Capitol Rotunda After Praying Against Republican-Led Budget

Barber divorced his wife of 37 years in November 2024 after separating in 2022. The couple went through mediation to settle parts of the divorce, including alimony, in a process called equitable distribution. But the mediation failed.

Rebecca Barber then filed the motion to add Repairers of the Breach as a third party defendant.

“Defendant contends that Repairers of the Breach, Inc. is functionally an alter ego of Plaintiff and may possess or control assets that are marital in nature or otherwise relevant to this Court’s equitable distribution determination,” reads the motion filed on May 14.

During their marriage, the couple had four children and also raised a daughter from William Barber’s prior relationship.

Beginning in 1993, Barber served as pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, from which he built a national following advocating for the poor. He served as president of the North Carolina state conference of the NAACP from 2005 until 2017. But he may be best known for reviving the Poor People’s Campaign, an anti-poverty effort bearing the name and the goals of the movement launched by Martin Luther King Jr. shortly before his assassination. Barber has preached at several Democratic National Conventions and delivered the homily at President Joe Biden’s inauguration prayer service in 2021.

In 2023, Barber took a position as founding director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School. He divorced his wife, a psychiatric nurse, the following year.

On May 3, he married the Rev. Della Owens in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Owens had served as an associate pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church and now pastors St. James Church in Wilson, North Carolina, a Disciples of Christ congregation, like Greenleaf. She previously worked for Repairers of the Breach providing Barber security and serving as his driver. In 2022, he presided over Owens’ installation service as pastor.

A spokesperson for Barber, Brian Woolfolk, told RNS that Barber denies the allegations and believes they are “false,” “unfounded,” and “without merit.”

Repairers of the Breach, the 10-year-old organization Barber founded, has hired a lawyer from the prominent North Carolina firm of Parker Poe to investigate the claim.

An Alabama pastor is accused of stealing a man’s book bag at gunpoint. Roy Powell of Cedar Street Missionary Baptist Church in Mobile was arrested earlier this week following an altercation with the man. 

Powell, 72, has been charged with first-degree robbery.

The alleged victim told WALA that he and Powell exchanged words after bumping into each other outside the post office on the morning of Wednesday, May 28.

RELATED: Man Involved in Livestreamed Robbery of ‘Bling Bishop’ Lamor Whitehead Sentenced to 7 Years

“He said, ‘You was in my way; I’m walking down the sidewalk,’” the man said. “And we had words back and forth.”

The alleged victim then said that Powell departed only to return a few minutes later with a gun. The man claimed that Powell pistol-whipped him before taking his book bag. 

Powell was arrested after police arrived at the scene.

After learning that Powell is a pastor, the alleged victim said, “When I heard that, I was like, ‘Wow.’ I don’t know what to say. Just wow.”

Powell claimed in court documents that he did not return to attack the alleged victim but rather to apologize.

RELATED: Church Financial Secretary Accused of Embezzling More Than $570,000 From Church

ChurchLeaders has reached out to Cedar Street Missionary Baptist Church for comment and will update this article in the event of a response. 

(RNS) — In late February, U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead ordered the Trump administration to resume accepting refugees cleared under the federal refugee admissions program, which President Donald Trump froze by executive order on the first day of his second term.

In a lengthy ruling siding with the plaintiffs, which included a trio of faith-based groups that help resettle refugees, the judge spelled out his reasons for granting a preliminary injunction, arguing “the record shows concrete and severe harms to the individual and organizational plaintiffs flowing directly from” the administration’s decision to freeze the program.

“These harms are mostly irreversible and warrant immediate intervention to stop more harm from befalling Plaintiffs,” Whitehead added.

RELATED: Christian Leaders Ask President Trump, Secretary Noem To Protect Afghan Christians Threatened With Deportation, Resume Refugee Resettlement

Three months later, the administration has not begun to admit the estimated 128,000 refugees already approved to enter the U.S., roughly 12,000 of whom had travel plans booked before Jan. 20, when Trump issued his order.

The faith groups involved in the case say the harm to refugees has only worsened. The refugees — many who fled religious persecution, brutal war and relentless violence around the globe — remain locked in limbo, the groups say, some in refugee camps where they wait to hear whether they will again be approved to enter America.

“As if they haven’t been through enough already,” said Mark Hetfield, head of HIAS, a Jewish agency that resettles refugees and one of the religious organizations suing the Trump administration. Hetfield said the ongoing pause of the program, which he called “cruel,” has been “completely devastating” for the refugees he serves.

The faith groups say the administration has claimed in court it cannot resettle refugees, but the groups point out that 59 white Afrikaners from South Africa, who had not previously been approved, were fast-tracked to refugee status in mere months and resettled in May.

After Whitehead’s initial ruling, attorneys for the Trump administration quickly filed an appeal and abruptly terminated agreements with faith-based refugee resettlement agencies that had joined the suit, which the plaintiffs called a “blatant violation” of the court’s order.

“The government has certainly been using delay tactics thus far, and the district court has been having none of it,” said Mevlüde Akay Alp, part of the litigation team with the International Refugee Assistance Project. The group is working with plaintiffs in the case, such as HIAS, Church World Service and Lutheran Community Services Northwest.

She was seconded by Hetfield, who accused the government of “clearly trying to do everything they can to delay the implementation or to narrow the implementation of this.”

RELATED: Catholic Bishops Say They Will No Longer Partner With US on Refugee Work and Children’s Services

Last week, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Whitehead’s initial injunction applies to individuals who had travel booked on or before Jan. 20 and who had “special reliance interests” in coming to the United States. Whitehead has appointed a special neutral master to adjudicate which refugees meet that description.

In response to questions, the White House referred Religion News Service to the Department of Homeland Security, which sent a statement made by Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a CNN interview, claiming the administration has “granted asylum to 8,666 individuals since January 20, regardless of color or creed.”

McLaughlin’s statement appears to conflate two different forms of immigration: asylum-seekers, who have already come to the U.S. and are processed through a separate system, and refugees, who apply from abroad and submit to substantial vetting before being allowed into the U.S.

A representative for the U.S. State Department did not reply to questions about the case.

Akay Alp said the government has suggested it cannot restart the program because of severe cuts at the resettlement agencies, which were forced to lay off staff and radically reduce their operations when the government abruptly halted their services and in at least one case refused to pay for work performed before Trump assumed office.

“One of the things that the government is saying is that the U.S. refugee admissions program infrastructure has been destroyed by the suspension of funding to the organizations that carry out this work, and that’s one of the reasons why they didn’t move to admit refugees more quickly after the Court issued its injunction,” Akay Alp said. “Of course, that’s entirely a problem of the government’s own making.”

Hetfield said, however, that his agency still had the capacity to receive refugees. “If they continue to starve the system and to tear it, rip it to shreds, we will not have that capacity — but as of right now, we still do.”

In April, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced it would end its refugee resettlement work because of the administration’s instransigence. Earlier this month, Episcopal Migration Ministries did the same, citing moral concerns with resettling the South Africans ahead of other approved refugees.