They preach the "Prosperity Doctrine" - that God can make you healthy and wealthy - and they live what they preach.
Every year America's best known TV evangelists bring in hundreds of millions of dollars from donors all over the world. But as BBC's Jonathan Beale reports, some of the evangelists' own lifestyles have begun to ring alarm bells and have prompted a Senate investigation into their activities.
Last fall, Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, began probing the finances of six TV evangelists whose lifestyles include mansions, Rolls-Royces, and private jets, all paid for out of church funds. Grassley told BBC, "I would not contribute to an organization that is Christian and evangelical with money being wasted that way."
Four of the ministers have since complied with the probe, but Rev. Kenneth Copeland, whose congregation recently bought him a $20 million private jet to preach the gospel, is holding out against the inquiry, which he claims is "aimed at publicly questioning the religious beliefs of the targeted churches."
"It's not yours, it's God's, and you're not going to get it," Copeland says of his financial records. He has launched a website to publicize his crusade and has received support from several leading conservatives, including Paul Weyrich and Kenneth Blackwell.
This video is from BBC, broadcast July 2, 2008.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
God needs lots and lots of money
"My financial records belong to God"
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Chapter 24 of Why Won’t God Heal Amputees?
http://www.whydoesgodhateamputees.com/god24.htm
Why does Jesus need your money?
I will answer your prayers. Pray to me for anything and I will hear and answer your prayers. I say it in dozens of places in the Bible, but I like the way I say it in Mark 11:24 the best: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Anything you need — money, love, happiness, you name it — I am here to provide it for you.
Now, there is just one thing I need in return. I need your money. I need lots of your money. The Bible specifies that you send me ten percent of your gross income, but think of that as a starting point. Feel free to give more! When they pass the offering plate at church, be sure to give generously!
Because even though I created the universe and everything in it, and even though I will give you everything you ask for in prayer, I can’t give a cent to any church, ever.
So, please give generously at your place of worship today! I thank you for your support!”
This is what every church tells you every Sunday morning when they pass the plate. Jesus is the all-powerful creator of the universe and everything in it, he will answer all of your prayers, but he has no money.
Why don’t the ministers and deacons of the church gather together every Sunday morning and pray for Jesus to deposit $1,000,000 in gold bars in the offering plate? Why doesn’t Jesus answer their prayers? Why do they have to beg for money from mere mortals when there is an immortal, all-powerful God who should provide anything they ask for?
The reason why Jesus needs lots of your money every Sunday morning should be obvious to you at this point.
Bono of U2 has a good line in the live version of "Bullet the Blue Sky" on the Rattle N Hum CD after doing a riff on televangelists:
"Well, the God I believe in isn't short of cash, mister!"
Frankly, I think its pathetic that people would give their hard-earned money to help some televangelist "spread the news". And I'm sure there are pathetic believers that are saying that Kenneth Copeland and the others like him are being persecuted.
It makes me sick to the stomach when you consider what all that money could do if given to the right charities.
Back when I was a Christian, I once had the nerve to suggest to some friends that we should be using our money to help the poor, and not build huge fancy churches, and a Copeland fan immediately rebuked me with that "don't touch God's annointed" bullshit.
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