Investigation is underway for possible financial misconduct involving six popular televangelists who preach what critics call the prosperity gospel.
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This six-picture combo photo made with undated file photos shows, clockwise from top left, Paula White, Joyce Meyer, Eddie Long, Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, and Creflo Dollar.
Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Finance, requested on Monday that the six ministry leaders provide financial statements and records by Dec. 6 and respond to a wide range of questions regarding their personal and organizational finances.
Letters requesting for full cooperation were sent to: Paula White, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, Eddie Long, Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn.
Grassley is trying to determine whether the ministries are improperly using their tax-exempt status as churches to shield lavish lifestyles, according to CBS News. Religious organizations are generally exempt from federal taxes, but are required to pay taxes if they engage in for-profit businesses. The Iowa Republican said his investigation was prompted by complaints from watchdog groups and news coverage about practices at the six ministries.
Allegations involve governing boards that aren't independent and allow generous salaries and housing allowances and amenities such as private jets and Rolls-Royces, according to a statement by Grassley.
"I don't want to conclude that there's a problem, but I have an obligation to donors and taxpayers to find out more," said Grassley. "People who donated should have their money spent as intended and in adherence with the tax code."
Ole Anthony, founder of Dallas-based televangelist watchdog Trinity Foundation, said he has been working with media organizations for 20 years to expose televangelists. After seeing little reform, he took a "drastic step" and went straight to Grassley with complaints. Trinity Foundation has provided information to the U.S. Finance Committee for more than two years.
"It's about time some sanity is brought to these religious nonprofits," said Anthony, according to The Tampa Tribune. "Some are committing outright fraud, and it's getting worse, not better, as time goes on."
Paula and Randy White found it unusual that a U.S. senator, and not the IRS, is leading the investigation.
"We find it odd that the IRS did not initiate this investigation. It also seems odd that they have asked about areas that have no relationship to the operation of the church," the Whites, who recently announced an amicable divorce, told The Tampa Tribune.
The local newspaper had recently detailed finance problems at Without Walls International, the megachurch that the Whites founded. After inquiries from the Tribune, the church published an audit of its 2005 and 2006 finances on its Web site. The audit revealed that the church took in $39.9 million in 2006 but it did not break down how much was spent on specific ministries or on salaries for staff.
Rusty Leonard's MinistryWatch.org grades ministries on financial transparency in an effort to alert donors of organizations that keep their finances in the dark and to help individuals make better informed decisions when giving. MinistryWatch.org gave an "F" grade to ministries run by Creflo Dollar, Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn. Joyce Meyer Ministries was graded a "C" while Paula White and Eddie Long ministries were not listed. Most organizations listed in Ministry Watch, however, are identified as excellent ministries to donate to. Continue >>
Comments
Here is something for thought. Matthew 21:21 & 22 “So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
Matthew 7: 13,14 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Luke 13:24 “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”
We as believers know these truths. We believe in both. My question is this: Is it plausible God inspired certain scripture for the purpose of separating wheat and tares? Follow me for a second. Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” What will be added to us? V25 may hold the key, “your life”, “what you will eat or drink” and “what to put on your body.” Knowing this, could scripture the prosperity guru’s adhere to have been meant to keep them from finding the narrow gate? Could their striving to enter be diverted by the true desires of their heart for earthly gain? Matthew 6:19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;” Yet many of them keep storing up and proclaim it as God’s blessings or rewards. 10,000 people sending in $100 each is not God’s blessings it is; 2 Peter 2:2 & 3 “And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness (inordinately or wrongly desirous of wealth or possessions) they will exploit you with deceptive (lies) words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.”
We know in order to become like Jesus the one who purchased us and owns those who accept HIS call we must pick up our cross and follow him with no reservation of ourselves. If HE decides to bless us along the way and does so it will be because our hearts desire is for HIM and HE knows HE can trust us to be good stewards and use it properly.
God's men in the Old Testament were not poor, and God does't want His children to be poor
and begging for food. Love for money and God are standing far apart in different directions.
Money itself is not bad at all, but the love for money is the root cause of all evils. It is sad to say that some of the mega Church Pastors and T.V. evangelists have gone overboard in the
doctrine of "prosperity" and material blessings. All of them could have lived in a moderate way and spent the money to evangelize and feed the millions of hungry people around the world and fulfilled the commission of Jesus Christ as model Christians.
You are right, the world sure tends to pull us in on a daily basis doesn't it?
The Bible tells us that the more authority we are given, more accountability goes along with it. All teachers/pastors get it wrong sometimes, they are as subject to the non-perfect condition as the rest of us are. However, the results of them getting it wrong have more potential to lead the "flock" astray than for the rest of us, not to mention the effect it has on how the unsaved view Christianity. The burden for them to grow in the Word and seek God's truth is enormous.
But that surely doesn't leave us off the hook. We are to test things for truth.
I surely cannot say who belongs to the Lord. When I get to my final home I am sure I will find that many preachers who seemed to have it right will not be there, and there will be others there that I did not realize were the Lord's. But I do know one thing. Those who continue to teach things that obscure or subvert God's word will certainly pay, either in this world or the next.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (New King James Version)
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals,[a] nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Footnotes:
1 Corinthians 6:9 That is, catamites
Our hearts should be on our relationship with Christ Jesus, not on the possessions of this world. If the Lord should bless us with good finances, then that's up to Him. We shouldn't be seeking after the multimillon dollar home, etc. We should pray about being a good steward, and giving to help those in need, and invest in those ministries that help spread the true Gospel of Christ to change lives for eternity; not this name it and claim it theology. Our true treasure is in heaven. All this on earth is going to burn. This is why Jesus said to die to ourselves daily; pick up our crosses, and follow Him. The flesh covets the things of this world way too often. It's a daily battle; our walk with Christ is a day by day, moment by moment event.
We need to think daily on what Christ pulled us out of; what He saved us from, and what He continually is cleaning from our lives as we bring it to Him. We need to think upon the love He gave, and continues to give even though we don't merit it for a second.
We need to be thankful, and content in what He has decided to give us in our lives. But even morte so His wonderful Grace and Mercy, and Love.
Praises and Honor and Glory and Wisdom and Power be to Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Forever and Ever Amen and amen. He paid the biggest price for our sins, and that alone is the pearl of great price.
GMG - I'm very glad that you are willing to actually let her words speak for themselves. There are those that seem determined close their eyes to anything but rumor and innuendo. It is nice to see someone acting in a Christian way.
I too don't believe in fancy churches or most anything else for that matter. If anything I prefer a church with no bells and whistles if you know what I mean. Just give me the cross.
As I said I haven't had any experience with Benny Hinn. What you say does sound pretty "different", but I still like to listen for myself. As someone willing to take the time to do that yourself I know you'll understand :)
My husband and I were discussing Joyce Meyer this morning and have come upon one reason that she might have a problem. While she doesn't preach a prosperity gospel, or "name it and claim it" or any of that other stuff, she does use some of the same wording. I think her problem may be with those that just hear those words (like God blessing you, or giving you victory, etc...) and can't comprehend them meaning anything else. Some people hear that "God will bless you" and simply don't hear that she is talking about giving you peace, taking care of you, loving you, their mind simply goes to money. Those that are concentrated on finding evil will find it, and those that are concentrated on good will find that it seems.
You said "God will match His gifts to us based on where and how he wants to use us". Amen to that!
RBB -
Thanks for your answer, I think I better understand where you're coming from now. And no need to apologize, I most definitely do not believe in the prosperity gospel.
I don't know much about Joyce Meyers, until reading these posts I had never listened to her, but have since determined to listen a few times for myself as time allows. And as I don't know her or most of these others listed, I certainly can't say what they have or have not done, it was my understanding that that was the reason for requesting information. I will say though, that I do believe strongly that God doesn't need or want fancy trappings to prove that there is a reason to seek Him, and that the Bible does make a strong case for riches having a definite tendency to obscure the Word.
Having said that, there is one of these people that I have listened to some. Those relatives have a number of pretty startling things to say of Binny Hinn, so I decided to listen. And I will say bluntly that he gives me the creeps. I have great difficulty taking someone seriously who "speaks" with the dead, sees "green mist", and prophecies that Jesus will attend one of his meetings "in person". He sprinkles just enough "God saves" and "Jesus is Lord" in his meetings to sound biblical, but he reminds me of satan in the Garden, telling Eve just enough truth to makes his lies almost invisible.
Let me say also that I believe that God can use ANYONE for His purposes, the Bible sure gives many accounts of Him doing just that. I also don't believe that God wants or needs prosperity trappings surrounding His work, the Bible makes it abundantly clear that riches make it more difficult to hear His word. There is a huge difference between a mansion and a nice home. Having said that, Abraham and Job were certainly rich, but when Moses spent 40 years in the desert I doubt that he found that overly luxurious, and Elija spent quite a bit of time in a cave being fed by a raven. God will match His gifts to us based on where and how he wants to use us. But accountability is a good thing to keep us focused on the Lord.
RBB, I thought you wanted proof for the opinions expressed on this site concerning specifically Joyce Myers.
http://www.trinityfi.org/images/meyer03.jpg
The web link shows the source from the St. Louis County Records that shows pictures of the 5 properties paid for by Joyce Myers for herself and her family. According to the article, the ministry pays all expenses, including landscaping and lawn care, property taxes, and rehab work. Also according to the article, Myers, her husband, and each of her 4 married children live in the homes- free of charge. Now whether the site is making this up or not, I don't know. I have never been to the Myers family compound, but I'm sure that if this article shows the pictures and the info on the property as county records as a source, then i believe their must be some truth to the allegations made by the Senate. Here's the proof. You decide.
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/m26ad.html (this is the other link exposing some of her own quotes).
jc4me - I'm sorry but I have no interest in reading these kinds of websites. I'll get my information from listening to the actual person. That is the only way to really know what they say and teach.
RBB:
Info on Joyuce Myers.
http://www.trinityfi.org/images/meyer03.jpg
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/m26ad.html
RBB:
Here is some info on Benny Hinn.
http://op.50megs.com/ditc/hinnprototype.html
http://letusreason.org/b.hinn9.htm
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/h01ad.html
GMG - No, absolutely not. I believe that the prosperity gospel is wrong, with all respect to your family. I think one of the biggest problem with this article is that it identifies Joyce Meyer as a prosperity gospel teacher. I wish that Ms Kwon has investigated a little more before writing it. Unfortunately I've also heard this kind of tag used on Mrs Meyer in connection with other secular media outlets, but I don't really expect them to know the difference.
I am well aware of what "prosperity" sounds like. I've heard it before, and she isn't preaching it. She is preaching that God will bless you, but with things no different than what your own pastor might say, namely the Fruit of the Spirit, help in trouble, taking care of you, etc... These are all things that we pray for on a regular basis. I was recently asked to give my opinion of her by a new Christian in a Bible class I lead. So I started listening to her every day for about the last two weeks. (I had listened to her a little here and there over the last few years, but wanted to really be able to give an honest opinion.) What I found was a woman preaching the true and whole gospel, deeply rooted in the word of God, who loves God deeply and has a wonderful gift to not only preach the word, but to make others understand it and put it to practical use in their lives. I've been a Christian for many years and there are things she has said in the last few weeks that have actually effected how I pray and live my life.
I don't know enough about the other people listed in the article to have an opinion about what they preach. But I would encourage anyone who wants to know what someone preaches to actually listen to them for a while. There really is no other way to know for sure unless you do, and to make false judgments is a very wrong.
I know this is more than what you asked, sorry.
RBB
We have some family members who follow the properity gospel, and believe strongly that the Lord will bless you abundantly if you will only ask and believe. Do you believe this also?
NOTW - I really want to thank you. I did go to the website you suggested and read the letters for Joyce Meyer and Benny Hinn which are really the only ones I was interested in. I was very interested to see what I did. After all this venom, these terrible accusations, all this judgmentalism what did I find....Joyce and Dave Meyers are accused of buying some expensive things (yes including a marble top "commode") for their ministry headquarters, not their home, their ministry headquarters. Benny Hinn is accused of simply taking layovers while on ministry trips. All this. All these terrible accusations and this is what it comes down to. Again, thanks for putting my mind at ease.
RBB--go to Grassley's website and read the letters that were mailed to these individuals. Remember that they have filed all these items with the federal government as being tax-exempt. "Keep your life free from the love of money..." What other proof can be given? My hands are clean of your blood.