Amid Latest TBN Drama, Ministries Face Question of Whether to Withdraw Programming

Brittany Koper, the granddaughter of Trinity Broadcasting Network founders Paul and Jan Crouch and its chief financial officer until September 2011, has accused network directors of illegally distributing "charitable assets" worth more than $50 million for their personal use. TBN, in response, has filed six lawsuits nationwide accusing Koper and her husband of engaging in a smear campaign to divert attention from financial problems of their own. In light of a California federal judge recently threatening to brand TBN a "vexatious litigant" because of its lawsuits seemed designed to "overwhelm the courts ... so as to avoid a rational decision on the merits," a longtime critic of TBN publicly called for certain ministries to withdraw from the network's airwaves, Christianity Today reports. Ole Anthony, founder of The Trinity Foundation, called for ministries associated with evangelical icons such as Billy and Franklin Graham, Charles Stanley and the late Adrian Rogers to pull their programming. "It's a spiritual and moral snake pit," Anthony said. "TBN uses these legitimate preachers to justify [its] existence." Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said: "It's increasingly awkward for the mainstream ministries to stay on the network. Every new allegation, every new headline, makes it more difficult." Evangelical ministries that appear on TBN have so far declined to comment, Christianity Today said.