Tax Exemption Under Review (Benny Hinn...

The tax-exempt status of faith healer Benny Hinn's $6.5 million world headquarters in Grapevine is being examined by the Tarrant Appraisal District after a televangelist watchdog group this week questioned whether the property should be considered a church.

The review of the property at 3400 William D. Tate Ave., triggered by a requset of the Dallas-based Trinity Foundation, is considered somewhat unusual, appraisal district officials said. But any requset for a review is investigated as a matter of policy.

...Trinity contends that the ministry hides its spending from donors and uses donations to provide Hinn with a multimillion-dollar California parsonage and a seven-figure salary.

...[Trinity president] [Ole] Anthony asked chief appraiser John Marshall to re-evualate the gated property, in part because no public worship services are held there and only those with access cards or permission are allowed entry.

..."Designating this organization as a church would be tantamount to naming Interstate Batteries, General Motors, the Dallas Cowboys and other for-profit corporations as churches because they hold periodic Bible studies on their premises," Anthony wrote.

By law, a religious property-tax exemption may be granted if a property is regularly used a a place of worship, she [Vinita Tribble, the district's support services director] said. That can mean anything from individual meditation to a group ceremony to religious education.

I said "You can learn a lot about a man by his friends." true of False?

I said,"Birds of a feather flock together." true or false

And I said "many people probably tens of thousands swore up and down that Jimmy Swaggart was above board, and a great man of God until the day his sin was publicly exposed." Is that true or false.

Finally I said and it was a guess and now you confirmed it that you personally do not know the man -- you only know his TV persona you know him by his repuation.

I did not slam the man -- that was a knee jerk reation on your part.

What kills me is you have one set of criteria for Judging democrats and a completely different set for Judging an EVANGELICAL -- of great reputation.

Now if a dem does something -- we at FR say follow the money. That is a fair test. If the man accepts bribe and gratuities if he gets favors done -- we call that corruption. If an Evangelical of Great reputation does the same thing we call it ------------ spiritual ministry

I know I won't change your mind but early on in this thread someone initimated Benny Hinn was not living the life of Christ -- their meaning was that Christ and his disciples gave up houses and lands to follow and serve the Lord.

I went to bible collage in the 1970's and I met a young methodist preacher who just started in hisfirst Parish in Millerton Pa. We had a discussion on careers and seminary. He told me he wanted to make a lot of money so he wanted to be a Doctor -- and found it was near impossible to get into an ivy league medical school as a white male. So he decided to be a lawyer but the prognosis of that profession in those days was slow growth -- he looked over his options and found that he could be a minister rake in 100,000 a year (Back in 1976)work twenty years in a backwoods parish and retire with a full array of benefits. -- the man was a hireling.

I live in fairbanks we have an presbyterian church here its relatively samll yet the korean woman that does the accounting for that Church and another one gets paid 100,000 a year. I have no idea whatthe pastor gets, but I'm sure it is a princely sum.

I have personally been in church rectories with butler maids and other servants.

This what paul calls trafficing on the Gospel -- and that is not a compliment.

100 years ago 200 years ago all the preachers in these denominations lived by faith -- the phrase during those days was "As poor as a church mouse." Well brother when the church mice can ride around in golf carts, the pastor droives a loaded lincoln and has a prvate leer jet when do we make a call that this is not a church but a business?

One last comment when I was in bible school I learned that our esteemed president had taken for himself not one but five houses that had been given to the bible collage as part of a deceased person's estate -- I had to take a deep breath and look at the words of Christ and compare them with what I saw and heard. the problem with most libs is they can't make the call against their party and seperate themselves from it because they feel they would take a personal hit for soing so. This is the identical thing for many beleivers they see sin, they hear sin and what do they do they stop up their ears and ignor it and hope it ain't or hope it will somehow go away. The problem is when we attend thse meetings nad give offerings to these corrpt people we become theri enablers -- and in the bible we are told to do so and not cry out against the sin = our becoming partakers of their sin. So what do we do we do what FR does we try to acertain the truth we try to first see if ther is a money trail we can view their tax records its public info. If you find your beleived teacher makes relatively little money and does not have a lot of perks -- you can feel a bit better but if the man has become via the ministry a multi-millionaire with his perks and financeces tagled up in doezens of dummy accounts and corporations what is the differece between him and Hinn?

We live in a day that the church blindly worships the godess of success. And people have associated big church big ministries with the power of God -- that is not the testimony of Christ and the apostles

Jesus said if a man come in his own name him ye will hear. Jesus said If I bear witness of myself it is not true. Jesus said I can not accept the witness of men but seek the witness of the father in signs wonders and diverse miracles. In this day ministers come in theri own name and give witness to each other and how right on they are is that the same thing as what Christ was talking about in John Chapter 5?

Nuff Said

your additions show that you understand that there is no defense between Jessse Jackson doing and action and Kenneth Hagan doing the Identical action. Of Calypso Louey and and Jimmy Swaggart.

being con men and scam artists fleecing God's blind blind sheep is the lowest acts of theft on the scale.

Jesus accused the Pharisees of devouring widows houses -- did they eat the brick and mortar? No they said God the king of the universe had a problem he's broke and unless some how we can finance our proselyte mission ministry God will have to shut its doors forever. God power is weak in this day as not many people truly believe like you -- and we can help you with your tithes and offerings see we work with Manny and Moe's loan sharking agency they are understanding people and will loan you what you need against that house so we can keeps the missions going. so they give one year two years five years and their house is devoured bit by bit and one day Manny and Moe show up and say pay up now or we will cease the property and band another widows house is eaten while the pharisees were living high on the hog like they do in our day.

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