by IndependentConservative @ 3:02 pm. Filed under Nuts on Parade
There’s been lots of news and lots of you have been sending me various reports, but reader misaligned_user gets the hat tip for the article that brings it all together best.
Dollar, Texas minister don’t plan to turn over financial records by today’s deadline
The Rev. Creflo Dollar of College Park’s World Changers Church International refused to cooperate in a U.S. senator’s probe into televangelists’ finances and uses of tax-exempt status.
His was one of six media ministries, including Bishop Eddie Long’s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, from which Grassley asked documents.
The others - the Rev. Benny Hinn and Kenneth and Gloria Copeland of Texas, and Randy and Paula White of Florida - had not turned in records as of Thursday morning.
Benny Hinn of World Healing Center Church Inc. and Benny Hinn Ministries of Grapevine, Texas, said in a statement to the AP on Thursday that he will not respond to the inquiry until next year.
Only Joyce Meyer of Fenton, Mo., has complied so far with Thursday’s deadline looming.
Dollar’s attorney sent Grassley a letter telling him to get a subpoena or to refer his request for a review to the Internal Revenue Service.
The letter expresses concerns about giving documents to the government, explaining such action could trample on the constitutional rights of people to practice religious beliefs without government interference.
The letter says the six ministries targeted preach the “…’Prosperity Gospel,’ a deeply held religious belief that God’s devout followers and earthly leaders will prosper and be successful in all they do, including in financial matters, as the outward expression of his favor.”
It went on to say, “… we believe that the religious doctrine and practices of a church should not be held out for the world to evaluate as a result of responding to Congressional inquiries.”
Dollar could not be reached Thursday morning.
Grassley said he is not interested in doctrine. He wants to make sure media ministries are not abusing their tax-exempt status.
He is the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee and has probed other nonprofit organizations, uncovering fraud and waste.
He believes he has a right to review records because when non-profits get tax breaks, the general public has to pick up the financial slack.
…
Yes it looks as if 5 of the 6 are not turning over the requested documents. I also found a video report that I’ve posted below.
Pulpit Pimps Failing to Subject to Governing Authorities.
Now, let’s place this resistance to government inquiry and all these claims “rights” by the pimps up against scripture and see just how horrible it looks.
2 Corinthians 8:21 (New American Standard Bible)
21 for we have regard for what is honorable, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.
Resisting is not exactly the route of honor and the following scriptures will show why. Please let scripture interpret scripture.
Romans 13:1-8 (New American Standard Bible)
1 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.
2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.
3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same;
4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.
5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake.
6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing.
7 Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.
8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
So if these pulpit pimps honestly wanted to show themselves as followers of Christ, not only would they fully subject themselves to government inquiry. They would also happily pay any and all taxes requested of them if it comes to that. Notice, those who claim to stand on the Word of God and claim to be teachers of the Word of God fail to uphold it when put to the test themselves. They’ve run and found lawyers and copies of various legal codes. They’ve suddenly become experts in the laws of men relating to resistance, while failing to uphold the law of God.
1 Peter 2:12-24 (New American Standard Bible)
12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.
13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority,
14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.
15 For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.
16 Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God.
17 Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.
18 Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable.
19 For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.
20 For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.
21For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,
22 WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH;
23 and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;
24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
So someone who claims the Lord’s name is to subject themselves to government, no matter if they are doing wrong, but especially if they desire to do right! Christ is our example and we are to follow Him.
I’ve been saying for a long time that these pimps are vipers who don’t really honor God, but many of them have helped prove my point today by example. Today is their deadline to turn over the requested documentation and it appears the vast majority will fail to do so. Some of them going as far as to speak defiantly, while thumbing their nose at a US Senator.
In the title of this post I noted that there is “pain ahead”, because this will only upset government officials. They will now bring down pain, that will make those who refused regret their being stubborn towards initial requests. It will give government cause to make new laws and place new restrictions on the finances of all religious groups. So when government brings the pain, if it hurts more than just those pimps, you have the pimps to thank for making way for it to happen.
As you saw in the video, some people are praising men as if they are gods. Speaking as if men changed their lives. If they are saying men have changed their lives, have they been honestly turned towards Christ, or simply a twisted honor of men? The men are walking in error and their followers speak error, in upholding those who don’t follow the example of Christ. Trying to share God’s glory with men, instead of giving all glory to God alone. I don’t read the above scriptures and say “if not for God and Paul and Peter I don’t know where I would be…” All glory is to God alone and men are bondslaves, purchased with the blood of Christ. Those vipers fall outside the commands of the Lord, as noted in Matthew 23 and 2 Peter 2 and they lead their followers to ruin.
The term “prosperity gospel” is an oxymoron. The message of the cross is one of contentment when it comes to personal financial status.
Wow, I thought I was a bible scholar until I discovered this web site. The scriptures used here are totally accurate, appropriate, and edifying. I just hope that all of this government inquiry does not lead to the destruction of the true chruches who are doing things right. These stupid pulpit pimps (Paula White, Creflo Dollar, Binny Hinn, Rod Parsley, Bishop Eddie Long and TD Fakes)and prosperity preaching false teachers are going to cause persecution on the true believers and pastors who are trying to rend appropriately unto Caesar the things that are Caesars. Thanks alot greed mongerers.
Thank you ever so much for posting this. I had no idea that it came to this, regarding refusal. If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to hide……………and many of the arguments regarding "well, you’ll give government more power" seem almost mute in light of what the Word says about how we’re to even honor the GOVERNMENT WITH COMPLIANCE for the GLORY OF GOD.
IC, I guess they have never read the scriptures that you posted. Can’t wait to see what the government’s response will be. If these charlatans have nothing to hide then why not comply.
Praiser4Life - With non-compliance, Grassley will be able to request a subpoena to obtain what he wants. And Grassley has already said he’s never had to go that route in his 5 years of investigating non-profits, but then again, he’s never tried going after a bunch of reprobate pulpit pimps .
Why wouldn’t they want their "gospel" lifted up for all men to see? I mean, if its the real deal, why would having your religious beliefs held up for scrutiny bother you?
Just think how many souls would come to the offering…oops..I mean Jesus..
Lennie, you could be right. And honestly, I feel it would be VERY good thing if they did remove all tax breaks from church organizations. Let’s be honest here, we should be giving totally without telling anyone what we gave. But come tax time, we’re all looking for the "charitable donation" line on tax forms. We’re not keeping Matthew 6:1-4 like we should and elimination of church tax breaks would ensure we give to advance the Gospel in truth and not some desire for a tax deduction from our donations.
And as I always mention, Romans 13 shows we all as individuals or groups should be happily paying taxes. Not trying to duck.
Why do we give to a church assembly with envelops we write our name on the outside of? (Often with checks that have our names on the top. Not very "secret" at all.) For the tax break. Because we don’t keep Matthew 6:1-4 and we don’t mind taking a little glory for ourselves if the folks in the back counting the money realize we gave something and give us a nice sheet at the end of the year to detail it…for tax purposes. So we can tell government about how charitable we are. Again, not exactly "secret".
I see SO MANY reasons why elimination of church tax breaks would be a wonderful thing…
December 6th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Wow, I thought I was a bible scholar until I discovered this web site. The scriptures used here are totally accurate, appropriate, and edifying. I just hope that all of this government inquiry does not lead to the destruction of the true chruches who are doing things right. These stupid pulpit pimps (Paula White, Creflo Dollar, Binny Hinn, Rod Parsley, Bishop Eddie Long and TD Fakes)and prosperity preaching false teachers are going to cause persecution on the true believers and pastors who are trying to rend appropriately unto Caesar the things that are Caesars. Thanks alot greed mongerers.
December 6th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Thank you ever so much for posting this. I had no idea that it came to this, regarding refusal. If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to hide……………and many of the arguments regarding "well, you’ll give government more power" seem almost mute in light of what the Word says about how we’re to even honor the GOVERNMENT WITH COMPLIANCE for the GLORY OF GOD.
December 6th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
IC, I guess they have never read the scriptures that you posted. Can’t wait to see what the government’s response will be. If these charlatans have nothing to hide then why not comply.
December 6th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
I read this website article and I thought that it was interesting. The link is http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/wolves/greedy.htm
December 6th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Wolves/greedy.htm I had to capitalize the ‘W’ or else it would not come up.
December 6th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Praiser4Life - With non-compliance, Grassley will be able to request a subpoena to obtain what he wants. And Grassley has already said he’s never had to go that route in his 5 years of investigating non-profits, but then again, he’s never tried going after a bunch of reprobate pulpit pimps
.
It’s got the potential to get VERY ugly now.
December 6th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Oh, and the uglier it gets will certainly inspire Congress to make even more new laws.
December 6th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Why wouldn’t they want their "gospel" lifted up for all men to see? I mean, if its the real deal, why would having your religious beliefs held up for scrutiny bother you?
Just think how many souls would come to the offering…oops..I mean Jesus..
December 6th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
This is a set-up for the government to take away the Church’s right to tax breaks.
And idiot pimps are playing right into their hands.
December 6th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Well, if that is the government’s plan to do such a thing, then they’ve had it coming. They’re just as corrupt as the government, playing church.
December 6th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
Touche rehabbedchurchgoer touche!
Lennie, you could be right. And honestly, I feel it would be VERY good thing if they did remove all tax breaks from church organizations. Let’s be honest here, we should be giving totally without telling anyone what we gave. But come tax time, we’re all looking for the "charitable donation" line on tax forms. We’re not keeping Matthew 6:1-4 like we should and elimination of church tax breaks would ensure we give to advance the Gospel in truth and not some desire for a tax deduction from our donations.
And as I always mention, Romans 13 shows we all as individuals or groups should be happily paying taxes. Not trying to duck.
The Lord’s will be done.
December 6th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
Why do we give to a church assembly with envelops we write our name on the outside of? (Often with checks that have our names on the top. Not very "secret" at all.) For the tax break. Because we don’t keep Matthew 6:1-4 and we don’t mind taking a little glory for ourselves if the folks in the back counting the money realize we gave something and give us a nice sheet at the end of the year to detail it…for tax purposes. So we can tell government about how charitable we are. Again, not exactly "secret".
I see SO MANY reasons why elimination of church tax breaks would be a wonderful thing…
December 7th, 2007 at 2:27 am
Make That 4 of 6 Pimp Lords (aka Pulpit Pimps) Have Not Complied. 2 Meet Deadline.
This is the current scorecard regarding the money heretics and their response to government inquiry.
Inquiry into TV ministries draws tepid response
Only two TV evangelists, including St. Louis’ Joyce Meyer, had responded by Thursday to a U.S. …
December 7th, 2007 at 10:30 am
I agree…Who cares about the tax break?