Religions > Atheism > Senate probe shines light on televangelistsı prosperity gospelı
| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"johac" |
| Date: |
20 Jan 2008 02:03:56 AM |
| Object: |
Senate probe shines light on televangelistsı prosperity gospelı |
Wow! The Senate is actually starting to investigate some of these scam
artists. It's about time.
---
Senate probe shines light on televangelistsı prosperity gospelı
By ERIC GORSKI
The Associated Press
The message flickered into Cindy Fleenorıs living room each night: Be
faithful in how you live and how you give, the television preachers
said, and God will shower you with material riches.
And so the 53-year-old accountant from the Tampa, Fla., area pledged
$500 a year to Joyce Meyer, the evangelist whose frank talk about
recovering from childhood sexual abuse was so inspirational. She wrote
checks to flamboyant faith healer Benny Hinn and a local
preacher-made-good, Paula White.
Only the blessings didnıt come. Fleenor ended up borrowing money from
friends and payday loan companies just to buy groceries. At first she
believed the explanation given on television: Her faith wasnıt strong
enough.
³I wanted to believe God wanted to do something great with me like he
was doing with them,² she said. ³Iım angry and bitter about it. Right
now I donıt watch anyone on TV hardly.²
All three of the groups Fleenor supported are among six major Christian
television ministries under scrutiny by a senator who is asking
questions about the evangelistsı lavish spending and possible abuses of
their tax-exempt status.
The probe by Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on
the Senate Finance Committee, has brought new scrutiny to the underlying
belief that brings in millions of dollars and fills churches from
Atlanta to Los Angeles the ³Gospel of Prosperity,² or the notion that
God wants to bless the faithful with earthly riches.
All six ministries under investigation preach the prosperity gospel to
varying degrees.
Proponents call it a biblically sound message of hope. Others say it is
a distortion that makes evangelists rich and preys on the vulnerable.
They say it has evolved from ³itıs all right to make money² to itıs all
right for the pastor to drive a Bentley, live in an oceanside home and
travel by private jet.
³More and more people are desperate and grasping at straws and want
something that will alleviate their pain or financial crisis,² said
Michael Palmer, dean of the divinity school at Regent University,
founded by Pat Robertson. ³Itıs a growing problem.²
The modern-day prosperity movement can largely be traced back to
evangelist Oral Robertsı teachings. Robertsı disciples have spread his
theology and vocabulary (Roberts and other evangelists, such as Meyer,
call their donors ³partners²). And several popular prosperity preachers,
including some under investigation, have served on the Oral Roberts
University board.
Grassley is asking the ministries for financial records on salaries,
spending practices, private jets and other perks. The investigation,
coupled with a financial scandal at Oral Roberts University that forced
out Robertsı son and heir, Richard, has some wondering whether the
prosperity gospel is facing a day of reckoning.
While few expect the movement to disappear, the scrutiny could force
greater financial transparency and oversight in a movement known for
secrecy.
Most scholars trace the origins of prosperity theology to E.W. Kenyon,
an evangelical pastor from the first half of the 20th century.
But it wasnıt until the postwar era and a pair of evangelists from
Tulsa, Okla. that ³health and wealth² theology became a fixture in
Pentecostal and charismatic churches.
Oral Roberts and Kenneth Hagin and, later, Kenneth Copeland trained
tens of thousands of evangelists with a message that resonated with an
emerging middle class, said David Edwin Harrell Jr., a Roberts
biographer. Copeland is among those now being investigated.
³What Oral did was develop a theology that made it OK to prosper,²
Harrell said. ³He let Pentecostals be faithful to the old-time truths
their grandparents embraced and be part of the modern world, where they
could have good jobs and make money.²
The teachings took on various names: ³Name It and Claim It,² ³Word of
Faith,² the prosperity gospel.
Prosperity preachers say that it isnıt all about money, that Godıs
blessings extend to health, relationships and being well-off enough to
help others.
They have Bible verses at the ready to make their case. One oft-cited
verse, in Paulıs Second Epistle to the Corinthians, says: ³Yet for your
sakes he became poor, that you by his poverty might become rich.²
Critics acknowledge the idea that God wants to bless his followers has a
biblical basis, but they say prosperity preachers take verses out of
context. The prosperity crowd also fails to acknowledge biblical
accounts that show God doesnıt always reward faithful believers, Palmer
said.
The Book of Job is a case study in piety unrewarded, and a chapter in
the Book of Hebrews includes a litany of believers who were tortured and
martyred, Palmer said.
Yet the prosperity gospel continues to draw crowds, particularly lower-
and middle-income people who, critics say, have the greatest motivation
and the most to lose. The prosperity message is spreading to black
churches, attracting elderly people with disposable incomes and reaching
huge churches in Africa and other developing parts of the world.
One of the teachingıs attractions is that it doesnıt dwell on
traditional Christian themes of heaven and hell but on answering
pressing concerns of the here and now, said Brian McLaren, a liberal
evangelical author and pastor.
But the prosperity gospel, McLaren said, not only preys on the hope of
the vulnerable, it puts too much emphasis on individual success and
happiness.
³Weıve pretty much ignored what the Bible says about systemic
injustice,² he said.
The checks and balances central to Christian denominations are largely
lacking in prosperity churches. One of the pastors in the Grassley
probe, Bishop Eddie Long of suburban Atlanta, has written that God told
him to get rid of the ³ungodly governmental structure² of a deacon board.
Some ministers hold up their own wealth as evidence that the teaching
works. Atlanta-area pastor Creflo Dollar, who is fighting Grassleyıs
inquiry, owns a Rolls-Royce and multimillion-dollar homes and travels in
a church-owned Learjet.
In a letter to Grassley, Dollarıs attorney calls the prosperity gospel a
³deeply held religious belief² grounded in Scripture and, therefore, a
protected religious freedom. Grassley has said his probe is not about
theology.
But even some prosperity gospel critics, like the Rev. Adam Hamilton of
15,000-member United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood,
say the investigation is entering a minefield.
³How do you determine how much money a minister like this is able to
make when the basic theology is that wealth is OK?² said Hamilton, an
Oral Roberts graduate who later left the charismatic movement. ³That
gets into theological questions.²
There is evidence of change. Joyce Meyer Ministries, for one, has
enacted financial reforms in recent years, including making audited
financial statements public.
Meyer, who has promised to cooperate fully with Grassley, issued a
statement emphasizing that a prosperity gospel ³that solely equates
blessing with financial gain is out of balance and could damage a
personıs walk with God.²
---
http://www.kansascity.com/238/story/450894.html
--
John #1782
.
|
|
| User: "JTEM" |
|
| Title: =?windows-1252?Q?Re:_Senate_probe_shines_light_on_televangelists=B9_=8C?==?windows-1252?Q?prosperity_gospel=B9?= |
20 Jan 2008 04:54:20 AM |
|
|
johac <jhachm...@remove.sbcglobal.net> wrote:
And so the 53-year-old accountant from the Tampa, Fla., area
pledged $500 a year to Joyce Meyer, the evangelist whose
frank talk about recovering from childhood sexual abuse was
so inspirational. She wrote checks to flamboyant faith healer
Benny Hinn and a local preacher-made-good, Paula White.
Only the blessings didn=B9t come. Fleenor ended up borrowing
money from friends and payday loan companies just to buy
groceries. At first she believed the explanation given on
television: Her faith wasn=B9t strong enough.
It's kind of hard to feel sorry for her, and yet I somehow manage
it.
I guess that's why I could never be a Christian. I still have a
little compassion in me.
If only I could get rid of it. Then I could "Born Again" and "Saved."
.
|
|
|
| User: "johac" |
|
| Title: Re: Senate probe shines light on televangelists1 prosperity gospel1 |
21 Jan 2008 12:03:55 AM |
|
|
In article
<6326ecd4-d0d0-45b2-b5c1-955aa413b98b@j78g2000hsd.googlegroups.com>,
JTEM <jtem01@gmail.com> wrote:
johac <jhachm...@remove.sbcglobal.net> wrote:
And so the 53-year-old accountant from the Tampa, Fla., area
pledged $500 a year to Joyce Meyer, the evangelist whose
frank talk about recovering from childhood sexual abuse was
so inspirational. She wrote checks to flamboyant faith healer
Benny Hinn and a local preacher-made-good, Paula White.
Only the blessings didnıt come. Fleenor ended up borrowing
money from friends and payday loan companies just to buy
groceries. At first she believed the explanation given on
television: Her faith wasnıt strong enough.
It's kind of hard to feel sorry for her, and yet I somehow manage
it.
Comapssion is a human trait and in reality has nothing to do with
religion.
I guess that's why I could never be a Christian. I still have a
little compassion in me.
Some extreme Xtians might feel she got herself in such a fix because she
was a 'sinner'.
If only I could get rid of it. Then I could "Born Again" and "Saved."
Born again? No thanks. Once was enough. :-)
--
John #1782
.
|
|
|
|
|
| User: "Michael Gray" |
|
| Title: Re: Senate probe shines light on televangelistsı prosperity gospelı |
20 Jan 2008 04:44:13 AM |
|
|
On Sun, 20 Jan 2008 00:03:56 -0800, johac
<jhachmann@remove.sbcglobal.net> wrote:
Wow! The Senate is actually starting to investigate some of these scam
artists. It's about time.
---
Senate probe shines light on televangelists??rosperity gospel?
By ERIC GORSKI
The Associated Press
The message flickered into Cindy Fleenor? living room each night: Be
faithful in how you live and how you give, the television preachers
said, and God will shower you with material riches.
And so the 53-year-old accountant from the Tampa, Fla., area pledged
$500 a year to Joyce Meyer, the evangelist whose frank talk about
recovering from childhood sexual abuse was so inspirational. She wrote
checks to flamboyant faith healer Benny Hinn and a local
preacher-made-good, Paula White.
:
They must not have been paying their dues to the senate slush-fund.
.
|
|
|
| User: "johac" |
|
| Title: Re: Senate probe shines light on televangelists? ?prosperity gospel? |
21 Jan 2008 12:05:09 AM |
|
|
In article <ne96p3luuevmvaml8gsd1ulilbbb2d0a13@4ax.com>,
Michael Gray <mikegray@newsguy.com> wrote:
On Sun, 20 Jan 2008 00:03:56 -0800, johac
<jhachmann@remove.sbcglobal.net> wrote:
Wow! The Senate is actually starting to investigate some of these scam
artists. It's about time.
---
Senate probe shines light on televangelists??rosperity gospel?
By ERIC GORSKI
The Associated Press
The message flickered into Cindy Fleenor? living room each night: Be
faithful in how you live and how you give, the television preachers
said, and God will shower you with material riches.
And so the 53-year-old accountant from the Tampa, Fla., area pledged
$500 a year to Joyce Meyer, the evangelist whose frank talk about
recovering from childhood sexual abuse was so inspirational. She wrote
checks to flamboyant faith healer Benny Hinn and a local
preacher-made-good, Paula White.
:
They must not have been paying their dues to the senate slush-fund.
Obviously not a good Republican. That's why gawd punished her.
--
John #1782
.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related Articles |
|
|
