Last November, there was a government sting operation of sorts with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sending some hate mail to six TV ministries. Maybe you heard about it?
Fast forward these many months, and Grassley has results, answers, thoughts and much ado about nothing, as seen here from the Dallas Morning News.
In short, he handpicked six known ministries to be dragged through a finance/IRS loophole to have their money placed under a microscope. Now, before the deluge of mail begins, my two cents: And?!
That’s it. No big litany of words sewn together in a tapestry of angst. You have six largely successful, powerful and blessed ministries – Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, Paula (oh yeah, and Randy) White and Bishop Eddie Long – all being called upon for never disclosing their public finances, yet living lavishly. People talk, perception spreads and supporters get concerned.
MEMO to all evangelists coolin’ out in Easy Street: We get it.
God wants us all to be blessed. And although several of you (not just the listed) are doing it right by having a successful ministry and parlaying that into stimulating for-profit ventures like book deals, movie rights and public speaking appearances; others of you need to get straight (maybe, some of the listed).
I agree, personal finances should have no part in this scope, BARRING those funds aren’t accumulated largely by the offerings of others who desire to pay for your ministry, not your ghastly mortgage.
However, we’ve all seen the investigative reports on TV. Some of you better recognize… the longer you wait to become affiliated with the ECFA or some such, the larger that “loophole” is going to get. Maybe next time it will be set on fire and featured at the circus.
Tags: abuse, accountability, Benny Hinn, crime, Eddie Long, evangelism, fraud, hypocrisy, IRS, Paula White, TBN, televangelist, TV
There is definitely something fishy sounding about this investigation by Grassley. He could have gone to the IRS to begin with for this information. It also seems odd to me that the 6 organizations were all of the same denomination, despite the fact that Grassley claims to not have known what groups he was dealing with…I do not think Copeland looks like the shady one here.