Rick Raw: Televangelists–Money Grubbing Swine

By Rick Grant rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

Dating back to the hell-fire & brimstone preachers of yesteryear’s tent revivals, today’s televangelists enjoy tax exempt status while amassing millions in contributions, fueling opulent lifestyles. I’ve always considered these false prophets money grubbing swine--the used car salesman of religion. They prey on weak minded poor people who believe that if they give these charismatic preachers money they will be saved, winning a first class ticket to heaven. And yes, I consider Billy Graham’s ministry to be part of this great fraud. He pioneered this way of raising vast sums of dinero. These televangelists live like kings, while many of their flock have a hard time making ends meet.

This week, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican in the Senate Finance Committee, setup an investigation of six prominent televangelist ministries for financial misconduct. Sen Grassley said on CNN that these televangelists live in palatial mansions and drive Bentleys and Roll Royces. In one case, he said, the bathrooms of one minister’s mansion were equipped with $20,000 marble commodes, while their congregations, many of whom live in poverty, make sacrifices to give much of their income to the ministries. Sen Grassley believes that these ministries are improperly using their tax-exempt status as churches to shield lavish lifestyles.

Get this, one of these televangelists in question is named Creflo Dollar! He has no shame, "My name is Dollar therefore give me as many dollars as you can," he could have said. The other hypocrites are Joyce Meyer, Benny Hinn, Eddie Long, Kenneth Copeland, and Paula White. Because these organizations have tax status as churches, the ministries do not have to file IRS 990 forms like other non-profit businesses, which allows their financial dealings to be kept secret, allowing for blatant misuse of the congregation’s contributions. If you watch their shtick on television, they frequently ask for money as a way of redemption for their congregations’ sins, making outrageous statements like "Give me your money and you shall receive God’s love."

More significantly, the structure of many of these ministries are essentially dictatorships lorded over by one person or family which encourages non-disclosure of the family’s financial dealings. Clearly, these televangelists are raking in the dough to the tune of tens of millions of dollars a year. Any savvy person would question their sincerity when they spend big bucks on prestige cars and mansions. Shouldn’t they use those funds to help the poor members of their congregations? Of course, that’s not their mission. They are greed mongers of the worst kind.–using their on-stage, on-camera charisma to con donations out of vulnerable and lonely people.
Sen.Grassley’s investigation was sparked, in part, by Ole Anthony’s Dallas-based Trinity Foundation, which is a watchdog group monitoring religious media. Anthony has written countless letters to media companies complaining about televangelists’ fraudulent practices for years. "We have furnished them with enough information to fill a small Volkswagen," Anthony said. He went on to say that after twenty years of working with media organizations to expose televangelists, he saw little reform. That’s why Anthony went straight to Sen Grassley, who was outraged by Antony’s findings.

The truth is–televangelists’ obscene profit motivations give legitimate churches, like
Episcopalians and Methodists a bad name and defile people who are sincere in their efforts to live Christian lifestyles. To me, these grifters who claim to communicate with God and con people out of their hard earned incomes, spew the worst kind of blasphemy. They’ve found an easy way to get rich without paying taxes. Even if Sen Glassley exposes them as frauds in front of the entire country, the deluded true believers will still follow these preachers–it’s their feel good pill. Indeed, it’s a sad commentary on how many of these people are searching for something to hold on to, and they find these crooks, who tell them what they want to hear and take them for all they’re worth.