The Huffington Post has a list of the 10 highest paid ministers in the country. Like Kenneth Copeland, whose 1500 acre compound includes “a church, a private airstrip, a hangar for the ministry’s $17.5 million jet and other aircraft, and a $6 million church owned lakefront mansion.”
Then there’s Creflo Dollar — yes, that’s his real name — who “drives a Rolls-Royce, is transported in a private jet, owns a million-dollar Atlanta home and a $2.5 million Manhattan apartment.” And Bishop Charles Blake of the West Angeles Church of God in Christ, who “earns a $900,000 salary and owns a 10,000-square-foot mansion in Beverly Hills while most of his congregation lives in impoverished South Central Los Angeles.”
And of course, other frauds like Benny Hinn. I’d love to know what other forms of religious frauds make, like Deepok Chopra. PT Barnum was right, of course; there’s a great deal of money to be made fleecing the ignorant and the credulous.
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TCC (fka The Christian Cynic)
January 29, 2012 at 9:15 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
It’s no accident how some pastors like Creflo Dollar and Kenneth Copeland get their money: their whole theology is centered around the idea of benefiting financially as a sign of God’s grace (or some such other bullshit). Funny how that financial blessing seems to trickle down and pool right around their feet.
Michael Heath
January 29, 2012 at 9:36 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I was startled when I googled Kenneth Copeland’s name and saw the top hit: http://www.kcm.org/. Startled because the this hit’s title was a true assertion, Celebrating 45 years of Victory!.
grumpyoldfart
January 29, 2012 at 9:38 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
How to skim tithe money from a church
1: Draw a salary – the bigger the better
2: Accept a Parsonage (Housing) Allowance to pay for upkeep of the house in which you live. This can be as large as you want it to be.
3: Buy Real Estate, sell it to the Church at an inflated price, and pocket the difference.
4: Or have the church sell you Real Estate at an extremely low price. Then sell it on the open market and pocket the difference.
5: Write a book and sell the whole print-run to the church at retail prices. If the church can’t resell them, well too bad, you’ve already been paid.
6: Start a special charity and employ a family member to manage it for a large salary. At the end of each year give the family member a huge bonus – and then use the remaining dregs for charitable works.
Aquaria
January 29, 2012 at 10:31 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
In 2007, the Express-News ran an article about one of these frauds:
I think the church eventually got rid of Godwin.
Fun fact: Godwin was a long-time associate of our old pals, James Robison and Benny Hinn.
Who I’m hoping the E-N will go after someday: John Hagee. There’s a lot of fraud going on with that monster. Count on it.
Note: The link has a copy of the E-N news story. Although the original no longer exists on the SA E-N site, I reformatted the link’s entry to reflect paragraph breaks as I remember them from the published article.
Marcus Ranum
January 29, 2012 at 10:44 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
All that moral guidance is expensive!
exdrone
January 29, 2012 at 11:35 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
They are just serving their congregations in light of Mark 10:25 by removing the temptations of richness and putting them in a safe place. God bless their selfless sacrifice.
raven
January 29, 2012 at 11:41 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Wherever you have poorly audited and controlled cash flows, you have corruption and people siphoning it off for their own use.
The churches have been corrupt to one degree or another for 2 millennia.
If the xian Dominionists ever took over the US government, the first thing they would do is loot the US treasury.
In Iran, it is estimated that half of the money they make from oil sales is diverted by the Mullahs that head their theocracy. It was corrupt from the beginning.
Neil Rickert
January 29, 2012 at 11:56 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“Sell what you have and give to the poor” has been transmuted into “scam the poor in order to fatten the pay checks of the rich.
Michael Heath
January 29, 2012 at 12:12 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
raven writes:
Where pagan religions which predate Christianity were also known for their corruption. As Christopher Hitchens noted, religion poisons everything.
peicurmudgeon
January 29, 2012 at 12:24 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I have often felt that if only I didn’t have such a strong sense of personal ethics,I would start a religion and become stinking rich.
stevebowen
January 29, 2012 at 1:00 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
It’s been going on for a long time. I’ve been reading Leviticus, the first few verses of which are about Moses and Aaron scamming the rest of the tribes into bringing all the best livestock to them to “burn” for Yahweh, before eating it themselves.
Crudely Wrott
January 29, 2012 at 7:32 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The greed of priests exceeds the greed of the people.
The people are greedy when it comes to food, shelter, clothing. As those choices are current, happening now. Later today as well as tomorrow may well be dependent on choices made now.
The priests (today that category must include political hopefuls claiming they can actually lead us — just listen to them!) are greedy for privilege to dictate the people’s choices. Their greed is not for warmth or comfort. They, from coddled aeries, simply want money. They get it, too.
They do this by inventing punishments and rewards that are not available to the living. These inventions are then floated abroad, catching hold in those places where they can and thereby thrive.
By any metric, the assets accruing to the priests far outweigh those enjoyed by the
donorsfaithful. No problem. Lying for jebus is the same as praying to it and if you are not wallowing in the blessings then you just aren’tbelieving prayinglying hard enough.Somehow, this shit works.
Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort
January 30, 2012 at 7:55 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I’m sure all of that money came legitimately through their salaries and not by skimming money off of the church collection plate.
(Oh, and my family’s pastor drives a red sportscar of some kind (I’m thinking Camaro) and he drives terribly.)
shauna559
January 31, 2012 at 6:11 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
lol…So us believer are called “ignorant and the credulous”, this story has me laughing at the ignorance in this judgmental blog.
It’s called blessings people, God’s wonderful blessings He pours on to His children that love him so. If what they are doing is helping people by bringing stability, credibility, integrity, wisdom, forgiveness, healing, grace and mercy through God’s word so be it. God gives us all free will, free will to tithe and give offerings to the churches, free will to love and help others. We are not forced to give our money to these ministries, we give because God first gave us and when we give, we get back, ten fold. And if you have every purchased items from any of these ministries you know first hand they are reasonable, and well worth the money spent, and our money goes to helping all over the world…these jets are used to travel to the lost souls so that they may be found….it’s working…keep working it! What are you doing?
shauna559
January 31, 2012 at 6:12 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
lol…So us believer are called “ignorant and the credulous”, this story has me laughing at the ignorance in this judgmental blog.
It’s called blessings people, God’s wonderful blessings He pours on to His children that love him so. If what they are doing is helping people by bringing stability, credibility, integrity, wisdom, forgiveness, healing, grace and mercy through God’s word so be it. God gives us all free will, free will to tithe and give offerings to the churches, free will to love and help others. We are not forced to give our money to these ministries, we give because God first gave us and when we give, we get back, ten fold. And if you have every purchased items from any of these ministries you know first hand they are reasonable, and well worth the money spent, and our money goes to helping all over the world…these jets are used to travel to the lost souls so that they may be found….it’s working…keep working it! What are you doing??
Chris from Europe
January 31, 2012 at 6:46 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@shauna559
What you write is delusional. I hope they paid you with enough donor money to spam the internet.
shauna559
January 31, 2012 at 6:50 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
lol…hey Chris from Europe…delusional? nope, but your comment make no sense with regards to ‘spam the internet’ Lord have mercy on all the above comments…Shalom!!
lulz|leaks|forums|comments|blogs|yay
June 9, 2012 at 10:19 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
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