(((O MY)) LEE GRADY Agrees w/investigation of Paula, Creflo,Meyers ((Bonus CNN Clip)

[Thad]

**** CNN INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS ****



Congressman Mentions Joyce Meyer's $32,000 Marble Toilet and other luxery Items !!!!!!!!


Clip of Paula Preaching Prosperity message !!



Check this out and leave a comment !





LEE Grady's Letter coming up shortly !!!

[Thad]

TELEVANGELIST UNDER FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





Here's the CCN New Clip



http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/pol...vangelists.cnn

[Sandra]

Originally Posted by Thad

**** CNN INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS ****



Congressman Mentions Joyce Meyer's 32,000 Marble Toilet and other luxery Items !!!!!!!!


Clip of Paula Preaching Prosperity message !!



Check this out and leave a comment !





LEE Grady's Letter coming up shortly !!!

So what if she has 32,000 marble toliets. She has made so many personal investments with the proceeds from her books and advances.
This woman gets 2 and 3 million dollars in advance for a single book she is writing. She is a millionare aside from any money brought in from partners.
I am not a Big Fan of Joyce Meyers ,some may care but I don't give a flip that she has 32 marble toliets. JMO

[Thad]

(((wow))))LEE GRADY SUPPORTS INVESTIGATION!!!


Six charismatic ministries are
under the microscope as a U.S. Senate committee scrutinizes their spending practices. Is this from the devil—or God?


Depending on how you look at it, Sen. Charles Grassley is either a crusader for righteousness or a devil with horns.

Some Christians feared he was the latter this week when the Iowa lawmaker, who is the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, announced that he has launched an extensive investigation into the spending practices of six prominent charismatic ministries. As soon as news of the probe broke on Tuesday, I started getting calls from people who are worried that Grassley is plotting to take away the tax-exempt status of all evangelical churches in America.

I have been assured by one of Grassley’s top associates that he does not have a hidden agenda, and he is not conspiring to deny anybody of religious freedom. What the senator does want is assurance that these six organizations are not taking money that was donated to charity and misusing it to buy mansions, plastic surgeries and other lavish perks.


QUOTE
“The Christian public should have demanded a higher level of accountability a long time ago.”


In letters that were made public on Tuesday, Grassley told Kenneth and Gloria Copeland; David and Joyce Meyer; Randy and Paula White; Creflo and Taffi Dollar; Eddie Long; and Benny Hinn that they have four weeks to send him a boatload of paperwork to prove they are in compliance with U.S. tax laws.

Grassley has been applauded in the past for blowing the whistle on financial abuses among secular nonprofit organizations including the American Red Cross. Now, because of complaints he has received from the public, the senator is turning his attention to these six ministries, demanding that they send him receipts for expensive purchases, minutes from board meetings, audited financial records and detailed compensation figures, among other documents.

Each of the ministries received a letter asking about specific expenditures or questionable practices. Among Grassley’s requests:

** A receipt for the Bentley convertible that Florida-based television preacher Paula White reportedly gave to Texas pastor T.D. Jakes

** Information from Bible teacher Joyce Meyer about expensive furnishings in her Missouri headquarters—including a $30,000 malachite table, a $23,000 toilet with a marble lid and a $19,000 pair of Dresden vases

** Paperwork explaining how Benny Hinn’s ministry purchased his $3 million home in Dana Point, Calif.

** Receipts and other records explaining how Eddie Long paid for his $1.4 million estate on 20 acres in suburban Atlanta

** Records about vacation trips to Hawaii and Fiji that Kenneth and Gloria Copeland took using their ministry plane

** Clarification from Atlanta faith preacher Creflo Dollar about his role in raising a hefty portion of a $2 million gift donated to Kenneth Copeland.

We charismatics certainly are in an awkward spot these days. At the same time that Oral Roberts University (ORU) is under the microscope for alleged financial mismanagement, some of the biggest names in our movement are now accused of bending tax rules and spending God’s money on themselves.

I am not going to rush to judgment in this case. I know that Meyer pumps hundreds of thousands of dollars into missionary outreach projects in many parts of the world, and the IRS recently notified her that Joyce Meyer Ministries is operating in compliance with tax rules. Hopefully her answers to Grassley’s questions will satisfy the Senate committee so she can continue her programs without interruption.

At the same time I can’t understand how some preachers can take their offerings with a straight face. How can anyone, for example, think that it is a wise use of God’s money to pay $10,000 a night for a hotel room on the way home from a foreign ministry trip?

Something needs to be said. Questions need to be asked. That’s why I refuse to demonize Grassley for launching this probe.

What is unfortunate about this investigation is that it had to be initiated by someone in the federal government. The Christian public should have demanded a higher level of accountability a long time ago. Why have we been silent when we know certain ministries are operating without a proper board of directors or without any accountability?

I’ve been praying about all the uncomfortable shaking that is taking place in the church today—from the embarrassing moral failures to the cavalier ministry divorces to the ORU scandal—and I sense that God is the one who is orchestrating these events.

I believe He is raising His holy plumb line over the church today. He is demanding that we come in line with His higher ways. He is decreeing: “I will have a holy people. I will expose greed, arrogance, larceny and corruption, and I will correct theological error that has led My people into materialism, selfishness and idolatry. The process will be painful, but in the end My people will be purified.”

I hope every one of these ministries can prove they’ve done nothing wrong. But if God wants to use a senator to help the American church clean up its act, then I say bring on the reformation.





Look, as it were, through a telescope that will bring it up near to you; look into hell, and hear them groan; then turn the glass upwards and look at heaven, and see the saints there, in their white robes, with their harps in their hands, and hear them sing the song of redeeming love; and ask yourself--Is it possible, that I should prevail with God to elevate the sinner there? Do this, and if you are not a wicked man, and a stranger to God, you will soon have as much of the spirit of prayer as your body can sustain.

---Charles Finney

[Sam]

Aren't Creflo Dollar, Paula White, Joyce Myers, and even some local churches guilty of "welfare fraud" by the way they enjoy tax exempt status as non-profit organizations but spend money for extravagant goodies, perks, and lifestyles with no accountability? If a jet is owned by the corporation for "preaching the Gospel" is it right for it to be used for personal pleasure? Is it right for them to hide behind the tax exempt status and let nobody know where the money goes? Shouldn't there be some kind of a law that if I give to a charitable or religious organization I should be able to find out (if I want to) how my money is spent by them? Should organization/church books be open to contributors or members?

[Sandra]

Originally Posted by Thad

TELEVANGELIST UNDER FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





Here's the CCN New Clip



http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/pol...vangelists.cnn

Almost the same report Katie Couric reported the other night, didn't hear anything new.
More ministries are being investigated than the 6, I think its a good thing.
I enjoyed reading each ministries response on a recent report, it was excellent.
I know 5 of these ministries are audited once a month by the IRS. They ask to have this done.
TBN started the once a month audit after the Jim Baker PTL ordeal.

[Thad]

***ATLANTA BISHOP WRITES PROTEST LETTER AGAINST CONGRESSMAN!***




Dear Pastor Friend,
This is an unprecedented attack on the Christian Ministry. While I do not totally agree theologically or lifestyle wise with some of these Christian Ministers, we cannot allow Senator Chuck Grassley to attack them and demand an answer to all these questions he has posed.

Because of this very public attack on the ministry, every single one of us are suspect and subject to governmental interference into our ministries and personal lives.

Where is the "separation of Church and State" now?

Please read the unbelievable demands of this US Senator.
We must write, call, email and unite to fight this attack on the ministry. I have contacted by letter, email and phone, both of my senators from Georgia and Senator Grassley's offices in Iowa and DC and expressed my outrage in this intrusion and attack on the Christian Ministry. This could happen tomorrow to you if we do not take a major stand against it.

I have asked Bishop Eddie L. Long's office and Dr. Crefflo Dollar's ministries to set up a major meeting of Pastors and Church leaders to formulate a plan of action.
Friends, If this senator is allowed to continue in this, all churches in this nation will end up being taxed and many will just simply, be out of business.

I urge you to read every letter and respond to your senators quickly. If you don't think this will affect you, you better think again. This is an unprecedented attack on the ministry and if we do not stand up against it, it will affect all of us.

Yours for the Kingdom
,
Bishop W. Wayne Pugh
Church Alive of Atlanta
Church Alive Ministerial Alliance
Loganville, GA
www.ChurchAliveAtlanta.com

Click here: United States Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa

[Thad]

The letter from Atlanta Bishop was posted with his permission.

[Thad]

Originally Posted by Sam

Aren't Creflo Dollar, Paula White, Joyce Myers, and even some local churches guilty of "welfare fraud" by the way they enjoy tax exempt status as non-profit organizations but spend money for extravagant goodies, perks, and lifestyles with no accountability? If a jet is owned by the corporation for "preaching the Gospel" is it right for it to be used for personal pleasure? Is it right for them to hide behind the tax exempt status and let nobody know where the money goes? Shouldn't there be some kind of a law that if I give to a charitable or religious organization I should be able to find out (if I want to) how my money is spent by them? Should organization/church books be open to contributors or members?

welfare Fraud????? how in the world does that come into play???

[Sam]

Originally Posted by Thad

welfare Fraud????? how in the world does that come into play???

Tax exempt status for businesses/ministries is a type of "corporate welfare."
They are being "subsidized" by the government by being exempt from taxes.
What they don't pay in taxes is made up for and paid by all the rest of us.