Render unto IRS?
“It is not yours, it is God’s, and you are not going to get it.” So saith Kenneth Copeland, the television evangelist, when asked to submit his ministry’s private financial records to Washington.
Mr Copeland is one of at least six American “televangelists” facing the scrutiny of a senate investigation for alleged financial wrongdoing. The Eagle Mountain International Church - otherwise known as the Kenneth Copeland Ministries - preaches a doctrine of financial prosperity, with the promise that God can make a follower both healthy and wealthy. The faithful are encouraged to dig deep and give to the Church, where donated dollars will provide a one hundredfold return in happiness and wealth.
As Mr Copeland’s televised congregation listen to their minister boom, “You are not created for poverty,” they deposit cash in a donation envelope across which is written: “I am sowing $____ and believing for a hundredfold return.”
Mr Copeland certainly practises what he preaches. According to a report into the pentecostal charismatics, commissioned by the Senate, the ministry built Mr Copeland and his wife Gloria a mansion “the size of an hotel” and enabled him to acquire a $20 million Cessna Citation to help him to spread the word of God across the US.
Speaking to his assembled congregation on the runway by his new aeroplane, Mr Copeland said: “The Lord spoke to me and said ‘you’re gonna believe for a Citation 10, right now’.” He also promised that the jet, one of four owned by the Church, “will never ever be used as for anything other than what is becoming of you Lord Jesus”.
The ministry also owns an airport capable of accepting jet landings, leases land for Mr Copeland’s cattle and horses and also leases land to the family so that it can operate oil and gas wells.
Read more here.
[From me]
I posted my views on church and ministries tax free status here last week. Churches and ministries aren’t guaranteed tax free status forever. If ministers and ministries start becoming arrogant towards the government, the tide could turn against all of us. I also mentioned this past weekend I don’t know whether or not they need private jets. As long as ministries are up front about their donations and gifts and they pay their income taxes, what they spend is between them and their donors.
But what about the arrogance of:
Is that really how ministers should respond to our government? I don’t see prosperity as a God given right. Jesus never promised us lots of money. In fact he promised us trouble.
Luke 9:23
Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Jesus said if we follow Jesus we must give Him everything we have. Taking up one’s cross means one thing-Death! According to the Health/Wealth teachings I guess I must be living in sin. We are struggling financially as I type this. If I gave a large “seed” to one of these Health/Wealth teachers would I become rich? Would it change my life? No, but it would pad their pockets.
Look what Jesus said in:
Luke 12:41-44
Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.
Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
How do the Health/Wealth teachers explain this? If I’m missing something please show me. Because I don’t like struggling financially. I would love to have lots of money so I can give a lot away. I would love to go on mission trips and support ministries. I don’t want a jet. I don’t want an expensive car. I would like to buy a motorcycle so I could save money on gas. I could go on and on. But I’m happy paying my bills and enjoying the ministry God has given me. I’m grateful for my family and friends. I’m convinced that God doesn’t promise us wealth. Abundant life is more than money. The widow mentioned above was rich in God’s eyes. Everything is different when we look at life the way the BIble lays it out. I doubt I’ll ever have a lot of money. That’s OK. I left the world of making money to become a vocational minister–not to get rich.
What do you think?
How nauseating. Jesus did warn us that there would be false teacher, though.
Neil’s last blog post..But can you abort apes?
I’m with you on this K. I have expressed before my feelings toward this “cultish” religion. I think it is from the pit of hell and smells like smoke. And if you want to know how I really feel…:) I knoe people will consider what Mr. Copeland says is heroic but I see it as arrogance & defiance.
Bill(cycleguy)’s last blog post..No Sense-Nonsense-Give Sense
It’s easy. All you have to do is plant some fruit trees in your yard, and a vegeteble garden. Build yourself a barn - but leave it empty for now, except maybe for some empty wine vats. Once the trees get big enough and you get some fruit from them, and you get some veggies out of the garden (…this is important) don’t eat any of it yet! Now:
That’s it. You should be all set!
:))
…sorry - the above post was in response to Kevin’s request in hist post:
Kevin, you’ve not missed anything here, nor explained anything incorrectly. Mr. Copeland is the one not following through with God’s plan and God’s teachings.
Sometimes, I really don’t like what Psalms teaches us about it raining on the just and the unjust alike. To be honest, there are plenty of times I wish it would just rain on my house and my yard! I’ll let you decide whether I fit the just or unjust category.
M. Steve Heartsill’s last blog post..This Ain’t No Bull!
Hey there 3A! I know you meant it as sarcasm but I like it! Sort of like follows through with the health/wealth idea.
Bill(cycleguy)’s last blog post..No Sense-Nonsense-Give Sense
A3,
Wow! I didn’t know you studied the WOF teachings.
Kevin Bussey’s last blog post..Render unto IRS?
Shazzam Kevin! For an avid “Crimson Tide” fan you really are smart!
As an avid Auburn grad and fan, and more importantly…. your brother in Christ, YOU could not have proclaimed it better. Thanks for your wise, correct, and astute statements regarding minister’s and ministeries who abuse the Word of God for their own profit and financial gain.
BTW…. let Kenneth fly to Washington on one of his jets and tell it to the Feds face to face. They might just give him a free night in one of their “hotels”. A hotel with bars for the door.
Give Caesar what is his and War Eagle!!
J.D. Rector
JD,
You are a funny man. I do have a Crimson man in your area. Alan Jones @ FBCO is a good friend and fellow Bama man. We are coming back!
Kevin Bussey’s last blog post..Render unto IRS?
B the CG,
Glad you enjoyed!
I did intend it as sarcasm but the sarcasm was directed toward the prosperity ideology and I expected most people who post on this blog to laugh with me.
Personally, I find the idea of treasure on Earth as a reward for spirituality to be very… “unspiritual”. It’s really not much different than the 72 virgins as a reward for martyrdom in the sense that both ideologies promise rewards of the flesh in exchange for piety. I think that prayer for any kind of personal gain falls into this category to a certain degree, even when it is prayed by someone who might not consider himself to be associated with the prosperity movement, and even when the prayer is for something like healing (the bodily kind, that is).
Kevin,
Mostly I just like the flashy clothes and private jets. Amen! :))
The doctrine these guys teach absolutely makes me sick. Disgusted. Ill. Mad. Angry. Livid, almost.
I think that Mr Copeland’s comments are shameful. And if the IRS wants to investigate his ministry, I would say “GO TO IT”…when you have NOTHING to hide, then you don’t fear the LAW….
Phil Hoover’s last blog post..Happy Independence Day, everyone!
First . . . ROLL TIDE!
This type of “evangelist” makes me so angry. I don’t remember it, but my husband (who’s a little older) tells me about Ernest Ansley once saying “don’t make your checks out to God, God can’t cash them.” I believe there’s a special place in hell for “ministers” like this.
Copeland’s theology is spawned by the devil. However, the Senate has no business cherry-picking organizations to investigate. If there is a problem then there is a government organization that should look into it — the IRS, not the Senate.
If the Senate would stop investigating major league baseball and these major league nincompoops then they could devote themselves more fully to torturing the rest of us with unnecessary laws like they are supposed to be doing.
Kevin S’s last blog post..The Mantra of Jabez, by Douglas Jones
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