What Would Jesus Drink?

Multimillionaire televangelist, former presidential candidate and fraud, Pat Robertson added "health-food promoter" to his wide-ranging résumé when he introduced "Pat's Age-Defying Shake" to viewers in August 2001. Seems his "age-defying" diet shake isn't just a philanthropic endeavor anymore. The televangelist is looking to turn a profit from it. After four years of touting the benefits of his weight-loss shake via his nonprofit Christian Broadcasting Network and sending the recipe to any viewer who asked for it, Robertson has licensed the shake for national distribution by General Nutrition Corp., a Pittsburgh-based health-food chain. Phil Busch had dreamed of inspiring millions of Robertson's viewers to lose weight drinking the evangelist's shake, just as Jared Fogle did for Subway sandwiches. Busch says he lost 198 pounds in 15 months drinking Robertson's concoction, leading to an on-camera interview with the Virginia Beach-based broadcaster on the daily TV show "The 700 Club" last month.
But Busch's hopes have been dashed by the crosscurrents of commerce. The man commercially hawking Robertson's shake is Pittsburgh bodybuilder Dave Hawk, who's affiliated with GNC.
Now Busch is hopping mad -- all 210 muscular pounds of him -- and the recriminations are flying. Busch says Robertson played him for a sucker, using him to hype his product when it was a nonprofit venture, then dropping him like a hot, carb-filled potato when he went commercial. Robertson and Hawk say they've been publicly maligned by Busch and have threatened legal action. Hell hath no fury like a Christian scorned. The commercialization of Robertson's shake drew fire from the Trinity Foundation, a Dallas-based religious media watchdog organization. Trinity has been critical of past Robertson business ventures, such as his African gold and diamond mines and Kalo-Vita, a multilevel marketing company that sold vitamins and cosmetics. Ole Anthony, Trinity's president, said Robertson improperly used his tax-exempt, nonprofit ministry to create a market for his shake. Um...duh.
Why not make big bucks off the fatass Bible thumpers who spend money on his crap? All in the name of Jesus, kids. Speaking of...I think I'm going to pour myself a big glass of Jesus Juice. [source]