DALLAS (TX)
The Roys Report [Chicago IL]
December 17, 2024
By Julie Roys and Sheila Stogsdill
A Messianic teaching ministry has become the second programmer to leave Daystar TV, following allegations the network’s president, Joni Lamb, covered up sex abuse, engaged in spiritual abuse, and entered into an “unbiblical” marriage.
Citing its “commitment to the authority of Scripture,” Love Israel, the international Bible teaching ministry of Baruch Korman, said it will sever its relationship with Daystar “as soon as possible” in a video today on YouTube.
“For us it was very clear, we cannot be who we are in the Messiah and take the positions we take in morality and in marriage and in stewardship, and continue to be associated with Daystar,” Korman said.
Previously, Canadian broadcaster Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson pulled her daily Daystar TV program, Laura-Lynn Live at the Eagle’s Nest, citing “ethical deficits” at the network.
Korman did not specify the moral issue with Daystar. However, one of the main allegations leveled by Joni Lamb’s son and former Daystar Vice President, Jonathan Lamb, and his wife, Suzy Lamb, centered on Joni Lamb’s recent marriage to sex therapist Doug Weiss.
According to Jonathan and Suzy, also a former Daystar TV personality, Weiss lacked biblical grounds for divorcing his wife of more than 30 years in 2022 and marrying Joni in 2023. As a result, the marriage was adulterous, Jonathan and Suzy claimed.
Because of this belief, Jonathan and Suzy refused to read a comment on air in July 2023, praising Joni’s marriage, as first reported by TRR. This led to a contentious meeting between the couple, Joni, and her ally, XO Marriage Founder Jimmy Evans, in which Suzy was fired. This meeting was recorded, and published by TRR, and has more than a half-million views to date.
TRR also reported on questionable financial practices at Daystar, including Joni and Weiss’ six figure honeymoon, initially paid by the TV network.
Lamb has since claimed that she and Weiss reimbursed Daystar for the total amount and “not one penny of Daystar’s money was used for our honeymoon.”
Jonathan and Suzy also allege that Joni covered up the sexual abuse of their daughter by a family member in 2020-2021, as also reported first by TRR.
Daystar has denied the allegation, claiming that an “internal investigation . . . concluded with no wrongdoing found nor evidence provided that corroborated the allegation.”
However, TRR spoke with the forensic counselor who conducted that investigation, Debbie Leonhardt. Leonhardt said she was unable to reach a conclusion because Joni and her late husband and Daystar co-founder, Marcus Lamb, shut down the investigation before Leonhardt was able to interview the alleged perpetrator properly.
The allegation Joni covered up sex abuse was a major factor, prompting Tyler Thompson to pull her daily TV program.
Tyler Thompson cited numerous ethical deficits at Daystar. But she said the most egregious one was the failure of “senior executives, and in this case, parents, to properly align with their son and daughter-in-law, who had sincere, rational, and earnest concerns that their child had been molested by a family member.”
Korman declined to comment on the allegations against Joni Lamb. However, he said the decision to pull Love Israel’s programming was made unanimously by the ministry’s board.
Korman added, “We’re not trying to influence any of the other programmers in those organizations that also broadcast on Daystar. They are going to have to go through the same process we did of seeking God in prayer, examining Scripture, seeing what’s going on there for themselves, and arriving at the decision that is right for them.”
Some other well-known Christian preachers broadcasting on Daystar TV include prosperity preachers T.D. Jakes, Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, and Joyce Meyer. Other more mainstream evangelical pastors broadcasting on Daystar include Dr. David Jeremiah and Greg Laurie.
Though Love Israel may not be as large or well-known as these other ministries, support for Israel is a major feature of Daystar and a focus in its fundraising.
Korman also spoke of forgiveness but added that forgiveness doesn’t mean compromising “the standards of God.”
Love Israel and Daystar had a 10-year relationship. And through Daystar, the program was broadcast to the U.S., Canada, and in 190 countries, reaching 17 million people nationwide, according to Daystar’s website.
Worldwide, Daystar’s network includes more than 100 stations and is reportedly worth $1 billion.