TV Evangelists Are Investigated by the US Senate
Nov 13th, 2007 | 8 responses
Once upon a time, my father and his horribly and permanently hunched-over second tailor Bodish, and me, went to see Oral Roberts because Mr. Bodish wanted a faith healing and could not drive a car. My father tried to talk him out of it, the two men having a very animated conversation that looked like they were angry, but they were both just trying to convince the other.
Mr. Bodish won. And it was the first time I ever saw a preacher in a red suit preaching so hot the podium was smoking. But, that’s a story for another time.
In this time, right now, Senator Chuck Grassley (R) of Iowa, working with an “Hunter-Downer of Evangelical Scammers” has launched an investigation of six persons (and their spouses) who lead huge faith-congregations on television and elsewhere:
One of the fuller stories thus far is here at CBS News:
six ministries identified as being under investigation by the committee are led by: Paula White, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, Eddie Long, Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn. Three of the six – Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar – also sit on the Board of Regents for the Oral Roberts University.
Here is also a local response from other small church leaders in Tennessee:
Dr. Dwight Kilbourne leads First Centenary United Methodist Church. He says it’s unfortunate if these allegations turn out to be true, because most churches are honest about their finances.
Read more here:
http://wdef.com/news/local_church_leaders_react_to_mega_church_investigation/11/2007
According to the NYT: these are the some of the people and items being looked at by the Senate Inquiry:
¶The Rev. Creflo A. Dollar Jr. and his wife, Taffi, of World Changers Church International, based in College Park, Ga., popular prosperity preachers with churches and homes in New York City and Georgia.
¶Paula and Randy White, a dynamic young couple who started Without Walls International Church and Paula White Ministries in Tampa, Fla., but who are now divorcing. Mr. Grassley wants them to document clothing expenses and any cosmetic surgery from 2004 to the present.
¶Benny Hinn of World Healing Center Church, a showy faith healer based in Grapevine, Tex., who holds large crusades around the world. Mr. Hinn is being asked how he handles cash collected on his overseas crusades and how much he spent on hotels and food for himself and his staff members during layovers on his trips from 2001 to the present.
¶Joyce Meyer, who with her husband, David, runs Joyce Meyer Ministries from Fenton, Mo., and who is popular especially with women for her no-nonsense brand of self-help. Mr. Grassley wants her to explain the “tax-exempt purpose†of purchases including a “commode with marble top†bought for $23,000 for her headquarters.
¶Bishop Eddie L. Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga., a megachurch in the Atlanta suburbs with an active media ministry.
¶Kenneth and Gloria Copeland of Kenneth Copeland Ministries of Newark, Tex.
The ministries, although far larger and more diversified than the average church, are classified by the Internal Revenue Service as churches and do not have to file the I.R.S. 990 forms required for other nonprofit organizations.
Mr. Grassley’s letter says that since these ministries are tax exempt, contributions to them must be used for the ‘tax-exempt purposes of the organizations.’
If donations were diverted for personal use, that could violate the tax code.
But, the inquiry is far deeper than the NYT article conveys: For instance, Mr. Hinn is being asked to provide names, dates and copies of all publishing contracts, recording contracts, television contracts. The letter from the Senate says it has been reported that he takes ‘layovers’ on business trips and demands all records of ‘layovers’ since 2001 including reconstructing where stayed, how much for food, who accompanied him, what their duties and expenses were; to provide copies of and detailed explanations about all foreign investments, all offshore bank accounts, the furnishing of a residence at 35 Ritz Cove in Dana Point Calif., all income not in cash or checks, all barters, all trades, all donations to the exact penny… and where every dime went.
The Dollars are being asked similar questions including where a million dollars went which they told others they were raising to give to another minister. They are being asked to account for their purchases of two Rolls Royces for themselves. They are to provide all board meeting dates, times and members and all minutes. It goes on. And Senator Grassley runs a tight ship: He’s given all six groups only until December 6, 2007 to turn in all records, receipts, minutes, explanations, phone/credit card, hotel/food receipts, entourage accounts, and all else.
Some say too, there are significant Evangelical fame-names missing from the investigation so far.
But at this point, the focus is on these six groups and nobody knows if they will be singing Freedom On the Glory Road, Sweet Jesus, or Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen.
Here are the texts of the letters, several 5 and 6 single-spaced pages from Senator Grassley to each of the Evangelical leaders under investigation, each letter demanding a profound amount of minute information including questions about dummy corporations, loans of one million dollars from one spouse to another, the alleged purchase and gift to T.D. Jakes by the Whites of a new Bentley.
Coverage of more responses from small church leaders, some ‘it’s about time,’ some, ‘proceed with caution,’ one indicating he thinks Sen. Grassley wants to ‘pick a fight.’
….and this comment to that article: “Come on now, you guys are living better than Jesus when he walked the earth and He’s our King.”
8 Responses to “TV Evangelists Are Investigated by the US Senate”
I am so pleased that Senator Chuck Grassley (R) is pursuing this. I’ve been to Bishop Eddie Long’s church (more like sprawling corporate headquarters) and it is quite obvious that the term 501c3 is not known there.
Lol this is awesome. These bible thumping hucksters need a good financial horsewhipping. Con artists the whole lot of them.
Where money flows, excessive grresd follows.
Churches are no different.
No one should be trusted, just on say-so, in a room with a basket full of money.
however, I hope the stratight arrow outfits that do good work honestly don’t get tainted by this.
Grassley’s a good guy- this has been a long time coming.
Maybe some of these churches should instruct their members to take a vow of poverty as nuns and monks do.
When I was a kid and we lived out in the boondocks of NY State, my Brasilian mother sought consolation and refuge watching Oral Roberts on tv. As kids we would enact the scenes we saw as Oral laid the hands on and people who had not walked in years stood up on wobbily legs and people who were blind since birth peered through tearing eyes to proclaim the work of God. Soon we were chastising our mother for believing in such poopy-cock. By the time we engaged with the real catholic church we were already cynics, and after confirmation I refused any involvement with the church except Monday afternoon catechism class and that only because we could get out of school early, often never making it to the church. Today I consider myself a strongly spiritual person, but no thanks to organized religion. If I were a senator when I was a kid they would have been investigated a long time ago.
–Spirasol
I grew up in Tulsa, OK, home of Oral Roberts and Oral Roberts University. I was a Campfire Girl, and on one of our outings we took a tour of Oral Roberts Ministries. My jaw dropped at the marble floors and walls and the state-of-the-art AV equipment. (This was in the sixties.) When I went home and told my parents about what I had seen, my father gave me a lecture about people like Roberts “fleecing” little old ladies of their retirement and using it for the excesses I had seen. It was a far cry from the worn-linoleum Southern Baptist church that I was brought up in. The situation with Roberts and ORU have been open secrets in Tulsa for a long time — But it took extraordinary events to expose it to the much-needed light.
I believe that when u call yourself worried about the Man of GOD and how money is spent then u have nothing else to do with your life. In gensis the bible says let there be light and the church is the light and hope of this world we live in. As for me and my childern I love the LORD and I don’t listen to that HOG WASH!!!!!! Spend more time praying and doing what the Pastors and Bishops of the world do and get on board. Help some of these young people out here B/C they are the future what kind of people sit around waiting for someone to say something negative about the LORDS work and then make comments.Most of the comment made are just HATERS as soon as someone works in the favor of the LORD JESUS CHRIST to help the BLIND HUNGRYand suffering people want to make a bad thing out of it. TO ALL U HATERS GET A LIFE with CHRIST!!!!!!
dear njnieman: In Genesis, the Lord Creator of All, said, ‘Let there be light,’ that is true. He was creating an endless Universe more huge than any one human being.
I don’t think the commenters here are ‘haters.’ I think they have complex thoughts, and a back story to each of their thoughts… as do you. I think they have found their own ways as you have found yours.
This article concerns an investigation, not a finding guilty, of people involved in a certain kind of profession that enjoys tax free status as 501.c.3 organizations that are required by law to adhere to certain strict standards. That is what is being looked into. The outcome of these matters remains to be seen.
dr.e