THE WORD-FAITH RAVENOUS WOLVES

"Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'" Matthew 7:22-23


FALSE PROPHETS

Jesus Suffered in Hell?

Revival in the Last Days?

Should Christians Tithe?

Holy Barking Laughter?

Do You Want to be Rich?

Health & Wealth Preaching?

Would You Suffer for Jesus?

Millennial Madness Morris

Repentance of Jim Bakker

The Purpose of the Holy Spirit

Benny Hinn Ministries

Lament Against TBN

The Importance of the Cross

The Full Christian Gospel

TRINITY BROADCASTING NETWORK

A Warning About Joel Osteen

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1

FAITH HEALERS THEN AND NOW

Rasputin and Hinn

WARNING: DO NOT RAISE YOUR CHILDREN IN A WORD-FAITH CHURCH
AS A LARGE PERCENTAGE OF THEM WILL BECOME ANTI-CHRISTIANS.

Senate Inquiry Targets Televangelists


By ERIC GORSKI

November 7, 2007

The Associated Press


Acting on tips about preachers who ride in Rolls Royces and have purportedly paid $30,000 for a conference table, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee said Tuesday he's investigating the finances of six well-known TV ministers.

Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said those under scrutiny include faith healer Benny Hinn, Georgia megachurch pastor Creflo Dollar and one of the nation's best known female preachers, Joyce Meyer.


Grassley sent letters to the half-dozen Christian media ministries earlier this week requesting answers by Dec. 6 about their expenses, executive compensation and amenities, including use of fancy cars and private jets.


In a statement, Grassley said he was acting on complaints from the public and news coverage of the organizations.


"The allegations involve governing boards that aren't independent and allow generous salaries and housing allowances and amenities such as private jets and Rolls Royces," Grassley said.


"I don't want to conclude that there's a problem, but I have an obligation to donors and the taxpayers to find out more. People who donated should have their money spent as intended and in adherence with the tax code."


Those ministries that responded Tuesday either said they were cooperating or committed to financial transparency and following the law.


The investigation promises to shine new light on the kind of TV ministries that were crippled by sex and money scandals in the 1980s. Experts also say it stands out as an unusual case of the government probing the inner workings of religious organizations.

Most of those under investigation preach a variation of the "prosperity gospel," the teaching that God will shower faithful followers with material riches.


Grassley's letters went to:


Kenneth and Gloria Copeland of Kenneth Copeland Ministries of Newark, Texas, a $20 million organization and prosperity gospel pioneer. Questions were raised about the transfer of church assets to a for-profit company, Security Patrol Inc., a $1 million loan from Gloria Copeland to the group, and a "personal gift" of more than $2 million given to Kenneth Copeland to mark the ministry's 40th anniversary.


A Copeland spokeswoman released a statement saying the ministry is working on a response to Grassley's letter, follows all laws and best practices governing churches and religious nonprofit groups, and "will continue to do so."


Creflo and Taffi Dollar of World Changers Church International and Creflo Dollar Ministries of College Park, Ga. Grassley's letter asks for records on private planes, board makeup, compensation and donations and "love offerings" to visiting ministers. In a statement, Dollar called his ministry an "open book" and said he would cooperate. He also questioned whether the investigation could "affect the privacy of every community church in America."


Benny Hinn of World Healing Center Church Inc. and Benny Hinn Ministries of Grapevine, Texas, is asked about use of a private jet, a home in Dana Point, Calif. and "layover trips" while traveling on ministry business. Hinn did not respond to requests for comment.


Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church and Bishop Eddie Long Ministries of Lithonia, Ga., was questioned about his salary, a $1.4 million real estate transaction and whether he, and not the board, holds sole authority over the organization. Long plans to fully comply with the Senate's request, and his church has "several safeguards" to ensure transactions comply with laws governing churches, according to a statement from Long's spokesman.


Joyce and David Meyer of Joyce Meyer Ministries of Fenton, Mo., who were quizzed about receiving donations of money and jewelry and the handling of cash from overseas crusades. They also were asked about expenditures at ministry headquarters, including a $30,000 conference table and a $23,000 "commode with marble top."


The ministry's lawyer released a statement describing the ministry's work and public release of several years' worth of audits. He also said the IRS found in October that the group continues to qualify for tax-exempt status.


Randy and Paula White of the multiracial Without Walls International Church and Paula White Ministries of Tampa, Fla. are asked about home purchases in San Antonio, Texas, Malibu, Calif., and New York, credit card charges for clothing and cosmetic surgery and the reported purchase of a Bentley convertible as a gift for Bishop T.D. Jakes, a prominent Texas preacher and televangelist. An e-mail to a spokeswoman for Jakes was not immediately returned.


In a statement, Randy and Paula White declined to comment on specifics, saying they needed time to review the letter with their lawyers. But the Whites called the Grassley letter "unusual, since the IRS has separate powers to investigate religious organizations if they think it's necessary."


Hinn, Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar all sit on the board of regents for Oral Roberts University, which is mired in a financial scandal of its own.


The Senate Finance Committee has chided secular nonprofits for governance and compensation problems in the past, but this level of scrutiny for what are basically "non-pulpit churches" is unprecedented, said Ken Behr, president of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.


Because the groups have tax status as churches, they are not required to file tax forms open to public inspection.



 
Church gunman may have made Web threats


By GEORGE MERRITT

Associated Press

December 11, 2007


DENVER – In between his two deadly shooting sprees, church gunman Matthew Murray apparently posted a furious threat on the Internet to kill Christians. But whether the warning reached police before he struck again was unclear Tuesday.

Murray shot himself in the head and died after being hit by shots from a church security officer, police said.


He was struck multiple times by a security officer at New Life Church on Sunday, but his death was ruled a suicide, the El Paso County Coroner’s Office concluded after an autopsy.


The warning – and other anguished, despair-filled messages over the past few months – was posted by someone using the screen name “nghtmrchld26.” The postings paint a picture of a home-schooled Colorado youth once affiliated with the Youth With a Mission program – as 24-year-old Murray had been.


“I’m coming for EVERYONE soon and I WILL be armed to the (expletive) teeth and I WILL shoot to kill,” the Sunday posting by nghtmrchld26 said.


“God, I can’t wait till I can kill you people. Feel no remorse, no sense of shame, I don’t care if I live or die in the shoot-out. All I want to do is kill and injure as many of you ... as I can especially Christians who are to blame for most of the problems in the world.”


At least one visitor to the site was alarmed and contacted the FBI promptly, before the second attack, the site’s administrator said. But the FBI would not immediately confirm that.


The message was posted on a site for former Pentecostals at 9:55 a.m. or 10:55 a.m. – the time zone was not clear, said Joe Istre, site administrator and president of the Association of Former Pentecostals.


Either way, that was several hours after Murray killed two people at Youth With a Mission, a training center for missionaries in the Denver suburb of Arvada, and at least two hours before he killed two more people at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs around 1 p.m.


Denver FBI spokeswoman Rene Vonder Haar said the agency began an investigation immediately after receiving a call at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. She refused to discuss the nature of the call but said the information was passed on to police in Arvada and Colorado Springs.


But Colorado Springs police Sgt. Scott Schwall said that police there did not learn the Murray family home’s address in Englewood until after the church shootings, and that a search did not begin until well after dark.


Arvada police spokeswoman Susan Medina confirmed the FBI passed on information regarding the mission center shootings about 10:30 a.m. She would not discuss the information in detail but said “we began work on that tip immediately.”

Medina said Arvada detectives did not go to Murray’s home and speak to his family until 3 p.m., well after the second attack. Medina said police cannot say with certainty who nghtmrchld26 is.


Murray was dismissed from Youth With a Mission in 2002 for what the training center has described only as health reasons. Youth With a Mission maintains an office at the New Life Church.


The online threats appear to include whole passages lifted from a manifesto written by Eric Harris, one of the teens who carried out the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School – 13 miles from Murray’s hometown.



Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 1 Corinthians 15:1-5

 

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