I recently found this website PimpPreacher.com that touts itself as a "free website site that will allow church members to report a Pastor or Preacher that is ripping off the church, and hustling the members."  They have a "Report A Pastor" section and "Preacher Alerts" where readers can see who some of the frauds are.  They also provide a number of articles and YouTube clips on the topic such as this one "Bishop Eddie Long, Kenneth Copeland, Paula White, T D Jakes Enjoy Lavish Lifestyles Financed With Tithes And Offerings".

I find it interesting the more and more people are using technology to fight back against these modern day hustlers who are using faith as a means to get rich.  Maybe someday we will see the pastors of CBC, TCC and CCC up on the site?

I found this very interesting article about how some of the high-flying icons of the prosperity gospel living in camp tithe have run into financial turbulence as of late.

• In Fort Worth, Texas, a review board ruled December 7 that Kenneth Copeland Ministries' $3.6 million jet did not have tax-exempt status. The ruling came after the ministry, whose 1,500-acre campus includes a $6 million church-owned lakefront mansion, refused to release the salaries of Copeland, his wife, and others.

• In suburban Atlanta, Georgia, a sheriff's deputy served an eviction notice November 14 at Bishop Thomas Weeks III's Global Destiny Church. Court documents indicate the bishop, the ex-husband of televangelist Juanita Bynum, owed half a million dollars in back rent. The church has lost roughly half of its 3,400 members since Weeks and Bynum's 2007 fight in a hotel parking lot, in which Weeks was accused of pushing, choking, and beating his then-wife.

• In Tampa, Florida, Without Walls International Church—which once attracted 23,000 worshipers—has shrunk drastically after co-pastors Randy and Paula White announced in 2007 they were divorcing. The church faces an uncertain future after the Evangelical Christian Credit Union began foreclosure proceedings November 4 and demanded repayment of a $12 million loan on the church's property.

• In suburban Minneapolis on November 18, Living Word Christian Center pastor Mac Hammond won the first stage of a court battle with the Internal Revenue Service to keep his salary private. Yet in 2008, he was forced to put his private jet up for sale and cut Living Word's hour-long television show in half to save money amid falling contributions.

J. Lee Grady, editor of Charisma magazine had this to say. "I believe the charismatic movement, of which I am a part, is in the midst of a dramatic overhaul. God is shaking us." Grady predicts the movement will look much different in a few years as it refocuses on evangelism and overcoming what he calls the distraction of "materialism, flashy self-promotion, and foolish carnality." In his view, the notion that "God blesses us so we can be a blessing" is biblical. What is needed, he believes, is a shift to a more selfless movement where people "realize that God wants to bless us so that we can feed the poor, lift up the broken, and transform society. We need that kind of prosperity," he said.

We've all been saying this for a long time, but it looks like some in the mainstream Christian world are finally starting to realize it as well.  You can only preach health and wealth without results for so long.  When you tell people to give, give, give but only the person who is doing the telling is prospering, people will eventually wake up.  Throw in tough economic times and the wheels begin to fall off.  The more of these false prophets that go away, the better off we all will be.

Chris sends in this follow-up article on Christian Faith Center's new helipad.

The church sensing some backlash sought to clarify the use of the helicopter:

The church will use the helistop only on major religious holidays and for special guest speakers, said Hulsmann, owner of Abbey Road Group Land Development Services. Another case would be a special event, such as Wendy Treat’s birthday, so she could be at both campuses for services, Hulsmann said.

So, no worries, folks. This will only be used on religious holidays and the Pastor's birthday.  You know, Christ's Birthday and um, Pastor Wendy's Birthday. What? What? That's the same thing.

This is actually par for the course for a pastor who once uttered: "When God looks into the Mirror, He sees Me. When I look into the Mirror I see God." God looks into the mirror, He sees me! When I look into the mirror I see God!," -Casey Treat

A mega-church in Minnesota is being investigated by the IRS for using funds to purchase a plane for the pastor, and also for making inappropriate political statements from the pulpit.

Mac Hammond inspires his congregation with the "prosperity gospel," a version of the good news in which following Christ leads to material wealth. With 9,000 members as of last year, a Bible college, elementary and high schools, a drug-treatment clinic, and a television audience reached through KARE-11, Living Word seems showered in God-given riches. The church bulletin proclaims a weekly operating income need of $319,822—or $16.6 million a year. Hammond, too, is a poster boy for his message. Though churches are not required to report the earnings of their pastors to the public, Hammond has garnered enough to donate almost $2.5 million back to his church.

But recently, the very prosperity Hammond preaches has gotten him into a sticky situation with the Internal Revenue Service. Living Word and the taxman are in the midst of a federal court battle over the church's refusal to comply with an IRS tax summons. The government wants to know the details of an arrangement in which the church helped Hammond finance an airplane, then leased it from him and paid the fees to keep it in a hangar. The IRS also wants information on loans Living Word made to Hammond—including helping to pay for his residence—which the church partially forgave.

If the IRS determines that the airplane deal or the personal loans violated rules prohibiting excessive financial benefit to insiders of 501(c)3 tax-exempt organizations, Hammond could be forced to pay the church back, as well as pay a fine to the IRS. In the worst case, Living Word could lose its tax-exempt status, though that scenario is unlikely.

I don't really care if the pastor promotes a specific politician. For what it's worth, I think churches should be free to speak out publicly about who they support politically. However, it really bothers me when churches act and operate like businesses, yet don't have to pay taxes.

In my perfect world, churches would be able to speak out in support of political figures, and they would also be taxed like any other business.   

It seems the recent financial collapse is inspring greater outrage against those who preach the prosperity gospel.

From Belief.net, a blog post titled To the Christian Leaders of America:

For the last thirty years, selfishness and private greed in the material world has been mirrored and supported by individualistic and privatized spirituality.  We have been bombarded by the heresy of the 'me first', self help, prosperity Gospel.   David Van Biema just wrote a startling piece in Time magazine as to how the the Prosperity Gospel played a role in the subprime mortgage crisis as predatory lenders fed upon poor congregants' magical belief that God had provided them with a home they could not afford.  Once the economic reality crashed in on their spiritual fantasy, it caused them more poverty, heart ache, and a spiritual crisis to add to their financial one.  Perhaps now the world will recognize the prosperity preachers for the snake oil salesman that they are.

Notice the especially harsh language. It is now becoming much more acceptable to criticize Pastors who preach the prosperity gospel. I like it.

The City Church is hosting their annual, "Give Us Money and God Will Make You Rich" Conference at the end of October. 

Below is the letter Pastor Wendell Smith writes to the congregation challenging them to attend the conference. It's so great, I'm not changing a word. You can't parody, parody:

A Letter from Pastor Wendell Smith

I was personally challenged recently by one of our key business men, when he said to me, "Let's not let the present economy dictate what kind of church we are, Pastor. Let's encourage our people to keep giving and sowing." It was like cold water in my face when I was dizzy and stunned! I needed that. I actually got riled up at the devil for doing what he is doing right now in American culture and around the world. Beyond other things, and his typical destructive nature, he is trying to hinder the propagation of the Gospel! I say "No"! How about you?

This may be one of the most challenging financial times we have faced in a long time, and for some young people, the first financial blip on their radar screen since they were born! But this is not the end, it is just a new chapter in the testing of our faith, to see what Jehovah Jireh can do for His people even now! If we ever needed this conference, it is now.

Pastors, Church leaders, Business people- be here. Make whatever changes are necessary in your schedule and on your calendar- and be here for this Conference. The Bishop who purchased the former home of the LA Lakers will be here. A Pastor who has been a financial Coach to thousands will be here for two dynamic sessions to help us get through this time. Our Marketplace Team will be here to encourage you and pray for you and your team personally. And I will be here- and I am stirred up and loaded with the Word of the Lord for the Church in the midst of a financial test. C'mon. You be here too! This will be life changing and church saving.

The Gospel depends on our obedience and faith.

Pastor Wendell Smith
The City Church

Someone's getting nervous…

Integrity Bank, a christ-centered Bank in Georgia, failed last Friday and was shut down by state regulators.

The banks philosophy:

"We felt if we prayed and obeyed God’s word and did what He asked, that He would help us be successful,” the bank’s founder, Steve Skow, told the Journal-Constitution in 2005. 

Mr. Skow would do well to learn the word's of Job, when God took away all his success.  

"Naked I have come from mothers womb and Naked I will depart. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord!"

Job 1:21

—- 

Atlanta Journal Constitution 

http://tinyurl.com/5tc5qy