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Posted On
11/06/2007

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U.S. Senate Investigating Top Christian TV Ministries

Multiple news sources are reporting that Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, is investigating six prominent televangelist ministries for possible financial misconduct. Apparently, letters were sent Monday to the ministries demanding that financial statements and records be turned over to the committee by December 6th. Although there’s no way to know what may have prompted it, there have certainly been a lot of allegations in the press lately from
various media ministries.

The Tampa Tribune quotes Kenneth Behr, president of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, an accreditation agency for Christian ministries. He said the inquiry is “a very big deal.” He said he is not aware of a high-ranking lawmaker ever undertaking such an extensive investigation into so many churches.

“I think he’s picking a fight,” Behr said. “He is not just asking them to come in and talk, he is asking them for everything.”

And if they don’t tell all, he predicted, Grassley could ask the IRS to step in.

“An IRS audit is not pleasant,” said the former Ford Motor Co. executive. “I wouldn’t wish it on my enemy.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 6th, 2007 at 1:43 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • nanny

    I think the non profit label is really a dangerous one when your dealing those massive amounts of money and relatively few people who are spending it and seem accountable to few or in some cases no one but themselves . It seems to me this might be a plus on the argument for a switch to for profit Christian TV. It would enhance the quality and appeal of Christian tv.

  • hotlanta crying

    This is not good for anyone, especially the church.  The IRS has powers that go beyond what any other government branch has.  Plus, because all ministries mail non profit rates, they have the right to determine if you are –in their mind- a non profit.

    If they decide you are not, they can force a ministry to pay the difference in non profit and first class mail for all mail for years back.  Yes, it could bankrupt a ministry.

    These ministries are run like family businesses, and the perks to family will especially look bad.

    It is indeed time to pray, not just for these ministries, but for all. 

  • Ryan Boone

    No wrong-doing = no problem. As long as none of these ministries have nothing to hide, they should welcome this as a sign of good faith (no pun intended) for their partners. I know I'd give more to a ministry if I knew for sure that my money was being used the way it should be used.

  • island girl

    Phil…where are you…

  • Phil

    Check my latest post on November 7th.

  • BoycottTBN

    Nanny,

    Do a google search on TBN and research the kind of business cash cow TBN really is.  Virtually every single ministry they have on TBN, GodChannel, DayStar are "prosperity gospel" preachers. IT IS A LIE! If the prosperity gospel were true, where is your mansion, Rolls Royce, vacation home, etc. They claim that God needs your money soooooo badly that if you will give it to him he will bless you 100 fold. 

    Desperate people are sending their last dollar to TBN in hopes of a miracle. Sick people who are dying, parents with terminal children, the lonely, etc. all will send their money in hopes of a miracle from God. Then to further SPIRITUALLY RAPE the believer, when it doesn't come to pass, they tell you it is because you don't have enough faith or you have hidden sin in your life. 

    This is not a joke, people have lost everything by giving their last bit to "God"…..Jan Crouch just built a $6 million seaside mansion so "her dogs could have more room" and they alreay have 30 homes across the country. And that's only the beginning. There is no end to these fleecers who love the material things of this world and sell "Jesus" for filthy lucre.

    I heard Jesse Duplantis say that "he does not sin" …..the Bible says that if a man says that he doesn't sin, he is calling God a liar,  (1 John 1:8-10).

    These so-called preachers or wolves (I prefer to call them pimps) prey on vulnerable sheep for profit while the church sits in their comfy pews in a delusion.

    Why can't these churches be transparent? Why, because they don't want the public to know how badly they cover up their fleecing. John Hagee reportedly made over a million dollars in 2003 for working 16 hrs a week at his GETV station. So, the next year he changed the name from GETV to Grace Church so no one would know how much he makes. His board is his FAMILY and one friend. They are accountable to no one.

    I've never understood and no one has ever told me how you can make a CD for $1.00 and sell it for $5.00 and call it NON PROFIT.

    When I drive downtown and see the huge number of homeless people under the bridges and highways, I want to cry. For a preacher to say he loves God and allow this to happen while he/she has mansions, vacation homes, 8000 acre ranches w/exotic animals, Rolls Royces, Bentleys, fleets of private jets, bling, body guards (why do you need a body guard to go to church?), $10,000/night hotel rooms, etc.  WHY???

    Either these ministries have to be made transparent and FOR profit, or the laws need to be changed.  I can't tell you the amount of damage I've seen from hurting people who just want to believe and love God. 

    MinistryWatch.com

  • Shona

    I am disgusted that the body of church would capitulate to any investigation about how church funds are spent. What needs to be investigate is this bogus war America is in. This is Satan trying to silence the word of God and stop people from supporting the church. If it had not been for a TBN on TV when I was thinking about taking my life…I would be dead. I don't care if Preachers have a 50 million dollar manison as long as they are doing the work of God. It's is a poor excuse for weak minded christians to stop sending in the offering. THE BODY OF CHRIST NEED TO TELL THE SENATE TO STAY OUT OF CHURCH AFFAIRS AND GO TO HELL!!!

    INVESTIGATE THE WAR WE ARE IN AND THE BILLIONS OF TAX DOLLARS WASTED!!!

  • hanna333

    I believe that all of the Christians that preach or promote such ministries or lifestyles should be stripped of all of their wealth and be made to be like the original church which did not have commodities or wealth.  The Bible says "…the Son of man had no place to put his head…"  he had nothing much less commodities.  If Jesus has brought the comission forward with bare feet, fishes and loaves, why can't everyone else do it too?

  • northtexas

    There are a number of points I would like to raise before airing my opinion on this matter.

    1.The senator is a freemason..For those  who dont know what freemasons believe, you can go to wikipedia or other search sites like this one http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Cults/masons.htm and see the contradictions their beliefs have with main stream christianity.If that does not sound an alarm bell, then read on.

    2.The world today is abandoning and rejecting christian beliefs and traditions. Let me give a few examples. 1. Homosexuality is rejected by christianity, but the world embraces it in the name of open mindedness 2.Abortions. 3.Alcoholism ( miller time and NFL) 4.Evolution, which is firmly against the christian belief of creationism, is being taught openly in schools around the world. You dont need to stretch your imagination to understand that when you are taught that you evolved from a monkey-like animal, you have no room to fit  God into the equation. 5. Murder in the name of death penalty. the list goes on and on.The society is rejecting the gospel and the people spreading it.

    3.Jesus himself states that the believers should expect to be hated by the world, because christ himself was hated by the world.John 15:19 tells us that the world only accepts it's own.  If we live as the heathens, then the world will accept us.  The world will never accept any Christian who honors God by obeying the Bible. "Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.  Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets." -Luke 6:22,23

    "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." -Matthew 5:11

     

    Now that I have stated those viewpoints, I would like to say that the preachers, no matter how much you dont like their lifestyle, are actually preaching the gospel.You dont have to agree 100% with everything they say, but as long as they dont defile the name of Jesus Christ, as is written in the bible, and call Him who he is, the gospel is being spread. Examples backing my statement include the time when a prostitute brought a very expensive oil and poured it on the feet of christ, many people, including the disciple Judas, complained that it was a waste of money and that the prro could have been fed with that money. On the outside that seemed like a genuine concern, until Jesus revealed what was in the hearts of the speakers of those comments.Let us not be very quick to tear down fellow christians, who are doing God's work, and

  • Sandy Stallings

    All these ministries talk about is money and say little about the Bible and if they do; they twist it to get you to send money. These are criminals hiding in religion. Wolfs in sheeps clothing. They blaspheme God and The Lord Jesus Christ. The government has a duty to stop all criminal activity. These people are not helping they are robbing the poor and unlearned. The Bible says a preacher should never work for wealth. The church should support their pastor, not people watching you on TV. Paul offten made tents as he preached the gospel. There no crime in getting rich, but to lie to get money is. They promise God's favor if you give them money. If you want God's favor, i know how you can get: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and obey him. GOD blesses his people. True Bible study will show every one who these people work for, and his name is Satan. They do what they do for themselves and care nothing for a man or his soul. Pastor Stallings

  • sam

    Well if you killed the only bread winner Dad from the fake faith healing,  and stole 10 million of our money,  what should I do ???

    and that did happen to my family, we were ripped off for millions,my naive widowed mother gave away 2 million in 1990 so that would be about 10 million today, my parents gave away my college education, I have no pot to piss in, no real world skill to live the good live, I have been living in poverty for the last 50 years,

    I just wish these frauds did not have armies of bodyguards and hide away in their fortresses in the mountains from all of us angry cheated christians, these fraudulent preachers are bank robbers, common thiefs and if we could band together by the thousands and show up on their doorsteps we could make a difference, after all they do have billions of our money,

     

    :}

  • Noel Miranda

    What ever happened to Evangelism, “The Great Commission” the call to “PEOPLE”, churches have become so large with massive buildings along with the expense, strangling them with pressure and debt to raise more money in order to keep the monolith from sinking. Lets become for profit that is for “Souls”.

  • Sandy Stallings

    IN the begining of the church they all met in houses, in small groups and that still is a good idea. It helps keep us accountable. I want to give to reach people for christ not some hugh church building. These peoples outreach is so you would put money in their pocket and they care noyhing for you soul.

  • Leslie I T Assih

    The aim of game is to make sure that satan finds nothing of him in us (…because the chief of this godless world is about to attack. But don't worry – he has nothing on Me [Jesus], no claim on Me [Jesus].) And we are to be found in God (and your life is hidden with Christ in God.) Judgement always begins in the house of God. If there is something wrong there is still time to make corrections and put the house in order – God is merciful – but this is good for us, as it will break us away from complacency, laziness and deepen our faith/trust and relationship with the Lord where our life is. Outside of Christ Jesus in God we don't have a life and the sooner we realise this the sooner we lose our affections to the world and its ways and start doing things God's way. When we live the way the Lord has instructed us to live we won't fear these kind of things because we are living at a higher standard – beyond our human ability (strengths & weaknesses/good & bad combined). When we live God's way and we will be ready for every good work and be prepared for every battle of the enemy – even the ones brought on by men (though they are not the real enemy – and that is quite tough to believe considering what we do to ourselves!)

  • http://www.gapmin.org Nanette

    Many larger ministries utilize independent accounting firms for managing funds and assets. Hopefully they have drawn clear lines differentiating their personal 'business' from ministry business. Notice the term business??  General points: (1) The search light from heaven is shining on the large ministry and the small ministry and Leslie is right….. make sure satan finds nothing of him in us. As much as we'd like to attribute this to some other force, the bible tells us that judgment begins at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17-18).  I'd like to share a saying that I heard many, many times as I was being groomed in the church, my pastor would say: "the judgment of God will be fulfilled but they don't have to be fulfilled on you!"

    (2) Whether the allegations are false or true, it is time to pray like never before. Who should we pray for ? Ourselves that we don't fall into temptation And men everywhere.

  • island girl

    Oh, PHIL …tell us what you think of this move…what the ministries should do …what they will do …

    It's election year…how will that impact this?

    It's a Republican starting this ???

  • GoodCommentary

    I know you asked for Phil to comment, and I think that would be great as well.  Hope you don't mind if I give a few thoughts on your questions.

    I believe that the ministries should comply before they are forced to comply.  If they have done wrong things, I think they should convict themselves before they are convicted in the courts, or by fined by the government.  If they have blemishes, come clean with them – at all costs.

    I will leave the election question alone, but as far as a "Republican" doing this.  I think that is fine.  I line up pretty closely with the general Republican principles.  But isn't it a bit refreshing that ANY politician is less concerned with the fall-out of his actions when he feels convicted about what he is doing than he is about protecting himself in apathy? 

    I suppose I don't see it as an attack on the church as some might.  I see it as a call for accountability in the church, and I think that this should START from "our own side".  It SHOULD have just been the practice from the beginning.  However, I think that this gives the republican party more credibility.  It appears less like a partisan attack.  Wow… I guess I could keep going with reasons that support him in this.

    Read up on him… He has quite an interesting resume and track record.  I put a link to his site on an earlier post… look down the list a little.

  • nanny911

    http://www.christianpost.com has an article on it…Paula White and Joyce Meyer on among the six listed as "prosperity gospel" evangelists being probed..it was a watchdog group that asked the congressman to take action…I hadn't heard of the group..but I tend to agree that these groups need to become transparent, because from the outside it does seem like they are professional con artists scamming people out of money.

  • GoodCommentary

    LOL… We spoke basically the same thing… I am just way too verbose.

  • GoodCommentary

    For information "from the horse's mouth" check out the senator's site:

    http://grassley.senate.gov/public/

    You can view the actual pdf files of the letters that he sent out.

    It is very intriguing.  I am not sure of how the jurisdiction / authority lines up for the senator, but as I understand it, if his "committee" backs him, then there is authority.

    What I find hard to imagine is the timeline in which these ministries have been requested to comply.  It is very aggressive.  Especially for some of them that have tremendous amounts of data to report.

    This should really be an eye-opener – if the ORU lawsuit wasn't already.  So many of these mega – ministries appear to function in a manner that more resembles a kingdom than a ministry.  It does seem that there is so much secretive regarding their finances, that one might get the feeling that they don't understand accountability.  Sure they understand accounting!  LOL!  That isn't what this is about.  It is about accountability.  It IS very sad that our government needs to get involved at all.  But remember we are to run from even "the appearance of evil".  Our mega-ministries really have not done that.  Most of them have been hiding things, not running from them. 

    We can do that ourselves, so we need to be careful how we judge.  Let's keep a balance here.  Search ourselves for things that we hide.  However, we also understand the principal that "to whom much is given, much is required."  Hiding is exactly what Adam and Eve did.  They hid from God when they knew they had sinned.  If we can be truly transparent, then we have less to worry about.  It will be real interesting to see how these ministries handle this.  Will they fight it and keep trying to hide things, or will they make an honest effort to be transparent?

    My guess is that not all 6 ministries will be afraid to show their books.  But I also believe that several have much to protect – much to hide.  I wish it were not so.

     

  • http://petersmythe.org Peter Smythe

    From reading many of the comments on the news sites and other Christian sites, it appears that many Christians have taken a myopic look at the nature of this investigation. From news accounts, it appears that Ole Anthony of the Dallas-based Trinity Foundation went to Senator Grassley after he was dissatisfied with media attention. Anthony is quoted as advocating "reform" of non-profit religious organizations. "Reform" is another way of saying governmental intrusion or regulation. While many Christians are applauding the investigation because of their disagreements with the theologies of the identified preachers, they don't realize that they are also hailing the demise of their own religious independence. While corporate jets and Rolls Royces might not be my cup of tea, protection of a donor's freedom to give to such preachers who buy such things affirms protection for my own expressions of faith.

  • GoodCommentary

    Peter, I totally see where you are coming from.

    I considered that perspective myself.  Here are some of the things that I asked myself. 

    Is this the beginning of a crumbling of rights?  But with further thought, is that really the case?  Is declaring your ministry non-profit all that is required to maintain that status?  Is there NO room for the government to investigate whether you really are who you say you are?  Is it any of the government's business whether your ministry is effective or wasteful?  But, are there NO laws that apply to a ministry?

    If you start dialoguing both sides with yourself, you might come to some of the same sad conclusions that I did.  Certainly our government has the right to inspect us to see if we are who we say we are… We are after all receiving benefits because of our claims.  If a man does not heed the advice, warnings of his peers and does not make himself accountable to God or his brother, then what might happen to him? 

    The Bible has depicts many situations in which entire nations were punished because men did not heed the warnings of God.  And sometimes God allowed enemies of Israel to triumph because of Israel's unrighteousness.  If God can use an enemy, can He not use our own government?

    I know I have posted here a lot on this topic, but it is probably because I have found it to seem so in-depth.  There is a lot more to it than a clear picture of good vs evil.

    I don't think the issue is about a donor's freedom to throw their money away.  This is more about whether 1) laws are being broken 2) people are being decieved on where their money is going.  It is about whether the ministries are being lawless and reckless.

  • http://petersmythe.org Peter Smythe

    Christianity Today quotes Richard John Neuhaus (no Word of Faith preacher, mind you) as saying, "This is cause for alarm that a Senate committee would presume to directly exercise financial oversight of religious ministries."

    As a practicing lawyer who is familiar with First Amendment law and church/state issues, I share Neuhaus's concerns.


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