Brian Edwards: Brian Tamaki – saint or sinner?
Of the several thousand people I have interviewed in my broadcasting career, there is no-one I have held in greater contempt than Brian Tamaki.
Of the several thousand people I have interviewed in my broadcasting career, including forgers, prostitutes and train robbers, there is no one I have held in greater contempt than Brian Tamaki.
Tamaki’s principal interest in life is not God, it is money. And no amount of money is ever enough to allow him and his wife to continue living the lifestyle to which this self-proclaimed “bishop” has become accustomed – a lifestyle of luxury and excess. Nor has any sight filled me with more disgust than Tamaki standing on a platform and inviting his disciples, principally the poor of South Auckland, to come forward and lay as much money as they can afford, or more perhaps, on the stage in front of him. A blessing!
I said all of this to Tamaki in a face-to-face interview with him on Radio Live. But the ‘bishop’ is impervious to criticism. He’s heard it all before and he can match you quote for quote when you suggest that a life of luxury and excess, made possible by sponging off the poor, flies in the face of what Jesus taught and of common decency. Tamaki is a man without shame and shameless. A hypocrite and charlatan.
None of these comments will bother him. He will see such vitriol as merely part of the odium which true followers of Christ like him have to bear. It is indeed evidence of their own saintliness.
Tamaki, you see, has no choice but to believe his own publicity. How else could he face his own reflection in the mirror?
© All content copyright NBR. Do not reproduce in any form without permission, even if you have a paid subscription.
Brian Edwards: Brian Tamaki – saint or sinner?
63236