20/20 did a piece tonight about a group called Ministry Watch--a watchdog organization that reports on the financial accountability & practices of popular ministries.
Fascinating. Several ministries were given "failing grades" (under the "donor alert" banner); others were praised for their transparency and integrity (the "shining light" banner).
Not in the least bit surprising to me...many of the more outspoken "prosperity gospel" bunch were among the most problematic (Benny Hinn, Rod Parsley, Paul & Jan Crouch, Creflo Dollar). This makes sense because:
Did anyone else see it? What were your thoughts?
- These guys in their theology have to be loaded; otherwise, God's not blessing.
- Because they preach health & wealth, they are swimming in cash. Thus, they live very extravagantly (I couldn't believe how much property (in the tens of millions) that the Crouch's owned personally), and the money has seemingly negatively impacted them (surprise, surprise).
- The main stumbling block--several ministries simply weren't forthcoming about where the money was going. Of course...that raises red flags, and should.
- Not all of the "failing grade" ministries responded on-air to 20/20. There was a recorded program of Paul & Jan Crouch addressing this issue. Jan managed to say between crying fits, "the critics were sent by Satan to discourage" them. Paul brilliantly observed, "If God wanted His people to be poor, who would pay for all of this?" (I wanted to say, "suckers?" but I refrained :laugh: ).
financial accountability--ministries (20/20 piece)
Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by rbell, Mar 23, 2007.
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I didn't see it, but it makes sense..
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Here is another link about this show...
http://www.christiannewswire.com/index.php?module=releases&task=view&releaseID=2578 -
Fascinating - thank you!
Thank you for the website TinyTim. Is sad that this takes place, but we all know it does and unfortunatey gives the 'healthy, high integrity' organizations a bad rap. They have spend excess time defending themselves instead of spending that time on the good works they are doing.
God bless, -
preachinjesus Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
I've seen these guys before, particularly with the two part expose on Hinn.
Rod Parsley, not too surprised, since he started wearing custom tailored suits and lots of expensive tastes I have been leery of his ministry. (The whole pentecostal thing is obviously a problem but the misuse of funds is getting bigger.)
Creflo Dollar is a false teacher plain and simple. I don't need an expose to figure that out. I've seen the man say that he believes it is a sin for any Christian not to be wealthy. That is false teaching.
Hinn is worse than Creflo Dollar. I remember that in the original reports about Hinn they went to a place in South America where his ministry was building a "huge Christian orphanage" and taking in lots of money to support it. When they got down there they found the "huge Christian orphanage" was nothing more than a run down shack in a shanty town with a vinyl sign hanging on the side and no children. The family inside was paid $50 a month to keep the sign up. Hinn is a theif, all Christendom should know this by now.
Now for the record I don't give to any ministry (outside my home church) that is not associated with Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. Just my personal belief. Finances are where most ministries get "possessed by Satan" (I use that term...loosely)
These above ministries are the leading reason that ministries might lose their tax exempt status soon. A $2 billion a year industry represented by those above, that is unregulated and full of corruption is too high visibility for Congress to ignore. imho :) -
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preachinjesus Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
Well from one "Christian" to another "Christian" you misread my post.
I'm not saying I'm for that, I was just pointing out that these burdensome ministries are going to create a problem for the rest of us. Personally I believe the best government is the government that governs the least. Anyhoo, imho churches and religious organizations have some the lowest regulations in the US.
Please try to be more understanding in your reading of my posts here. I'll thank you in advance. :)