2021/04/22 by Augusta Dell’Omo · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #South African History and Culture #African studies and sociopolitical issues
paper · doi:10.1093/dh/dhab032
openalex publication_date 2021/04/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Paul Crouch, the founder of the world’s largest religious television network, Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), knew the force hindering his 1985 plan to expand his operation in South Africa: the Devil. “The infernal handiwork” of Crouch’s arch-enemy—Satan—threatened TBN’s designs on the country.1 Facing technological problems, the sudden death of his go-between to South African Prime Minister P.W. Botha, and U.S. Congressional resistance to network expansion, Crouch felt the fate of the world, and the afterworld, hanging in the balance. Calling for spiritual reinforcements, Crouch reminded his millions of subscribers that “South Africa [was] the key to the LAST MAJOR BATTLE” that stood between TBN and God’s glorious kingdom.2 For Crouch and TBN, South Africa represented an essential location to initiate the second coming of Jesus Christ, opening all of the “dark continent” for conversion. The stakes for TBN could not have been higher, and Crouch and his followers became apartheid apologists to obtain the South African government’s support for TBN’s “higher battle” of theological expansion.