Jan Hanvold

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Jan Kåre Hanvold (born 29 April 1951) is a Norwegian televangelist pastor. Hanvold is the founder and owner of the Christian television station Visjon Norge that is carried throughout Scandinavia.

Business[edit]

Hanvold has a dubious reputation as a businessman,[1][2][3][4] and his resume includes a series of bankruptcies and a jail sentence.[5] He has been criticized for raising obscene amounts of money through his religious media projects,[6][7][8] in 2016 the Norwegian state broadcaster NRK estimated that his media projects had raised more than one billion kr in 15 years.[9] Scrutiny of these projects has discovered that the funds he raises for charity are scantily spent on the purposes for which they are raised.[5][10][11] In 2010 Hanvold accused Norwegian fundamentalist Christians of embezzlement, claiming that by donating less than one tenth of their income as tithe to Christian organizations this group is stealing 8 billion kr from God annually.[12] Hanvold, in 2010, made more money than anybody else employed by Norwegian Christian organizations, according to official tax figures.[13]

Views[edit]

Hanvold announced that he was praying for the failure of the Norwegian coalition government in 2005.[14]

Hanvold has criticized the Norwegian Princess Märtha Louise's plans to open a private school, known as Astarte Education, teaching students how to communicate with angels. Hanvold accused the princess of "blasphemy" and said she was "an emissary from hell."[15]

References[edit]