Posted on 08/31/2015 12:17:54 PM PDT by Kaslin
The fourth circle of Hell, as envisioned by Dante Alighieri in The Divine Comedy, is reserved for the avaricious and the profligate. It is where those whose lust for getting and spending knew no bounds in life are punished in the afterlife by being battered endlessly with heavy weights. Notable among the souls damned for their greed, Dante wrote, "were clergymen and popes and cardinals, within whom avarice works its excess."
What disgusted the great poet in 14th-century Florence – money-grubbing hucksters masquerading as men of God – is just as disgusting in 21st-century America.
Comedian John Oliver is no Dante, but on his HBO program "Last Week Tonight" he recentlyripped into the "prosperity gospel" of television preachers like Robert Tilton and Creflo Dollar, who aggressively solicit donations to finance lavish lifestyles. These sleazy televangelists, Oliver said, assure followers that "wealth is a sign of God's favor, and donations will result in wealth coming back to you." They call it "seed faith" — the belief "that donations are seeds that you will one day get to harvest." And the more believers "seed," the more God will reward them with riches and miracles.
The conviction that charity returns blessings to the giver has been a pillar of Judeo-Christian teaching for millennia, of course. The Hebrew prophet Malachi urged people to put God to the test by tithing unstintingly. Be generous in giving to the poor, he quotes God as saying, "and see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you, and pour down upon you blessing without measure." In the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus exhorts his followers: "Do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great. . . . Give, and it will be given to you."
Religious faith inspires extraordinary levels of charitable giving. As Oliver acknowledged, there are hundreds of thousands of congregations in the United States. Many are citadels of heartfelt goodness, genuinely devoted to feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, and loving the stranger. By contrast, the "prosperity gospel" televangelists Oliver takes down are genuinely devoted mostly to themselves. Creflo Dollar, for example, flaunts his Rolls-Royces and encourages his flock to send him money so he can buy himself a $65 million Gulfstream jet. Kenneth Copeland lives in a $6.3 million palatial lakeside villa.
How can anyone not be appalled by such swindlers? They pervert what is most beautiful and ennobling about religion to prey on the weak and gullible, and in so doing bring God's name into contempt.
What seems to most infuriate Oliver, however, is that these television "ministries" are tax-exempt. He rails against the IRS for treating them as legitimate, and mocks the agency's disclaimer that it "makes no attempt to evaluate the content of whatever doctrine a particular organization claims is religious," as long as the beliefs are "sincerely held." To prove how meaningless a standard that is, Oliver even set up his own "church" — Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption — and invited viewers to send him tax-deductible donations. Obviously, he isn't the first person to discover some shepherds are interested only in fleecing their flock. The Senate Finance Committee investigated six leading televangelists in 2007. The Dallas-based Trinity Foundation has been investigating religious fraud since the 1970s. Scandals involving TV ministries have often drawn media coverage.
But federal law purposely makes it difficult for the IRS to investigate churches. This is not because Congress wants to encourage charlatans who exploit people's faith to line their own pockets, but because of the longstanding American aversion to giving government the authority to pick and choose among faiths, or to distinguish sincere religious beliefs from insincere scams. In a report last month, the General Accountability Office concluded that the IRS lacked the internal controlsto guard against the temptation to "select organizations for examination in an unfair manner — for example, based on an organization's religious, educational, political, or other views."
Perhaps such controls could be devised, though the long history of the IRS being used to harass ideological or partisan targets isn't encouraging. To be sure, there are clear lines that ministries may not cross, such as a minister's personal use of church assets or the endorsement of political candidates. And fraud is a crime, no matter who commits it.
But that still leaves a broad gray area that comes down to belief vs. baloney. "Prosperity gospel" may amount to contemptible nonsense, but many would say the same of Scientology or Christian Science or Santeria. Or, for that matter, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Should government be empowered to sort it out?
It is a bedrock principle of American life that discerning religious truth is no job for the state. Sleazeball televangelists deserve to be mocked and exposed and warned against — but not by the IRS. As the First Amendment secures John Oliver's right to excoriate Creflo Dollar, it secures Dollar's freedom to preach his gospel of greed. That's a reasonable tradeoff in this imperfect world. As for the world to come, consult Dante.
hada.....That may be true. The majority of American Jews are registered Democrats. That could be another reason for them hating Republicans.
For the most part the majority of Jews living in Israel don’t feel that way.
Thanks for your response.
Are you saying none of this is supported by the bible?
You are being either picky or ignorant if you are.
give the scriptures since you haven’t its just opinions
Who are you serving and funding, God’s will or the Company?
Look, I’m gonna cut to the chase here RginTN, there’s not a damn thing you can say in support of these multi-millionaire charlatans who make their fortunes from the average working guy and with every sermon they keep asking for more......It’s fools like you, not me, who elevate them to “Christian” status while they sit on their golden thrones in their opulent mansions.
me- thats your opinion they are charlatans and not Christian.
If they preach something which contradicts God’s word then I will agree with you until then having wealth does not make a Christian a charlatan.
me- not a bro:))
thats fine give your tithes and offerings to your local church.
My husband and I used to listen on AFN on his car radiowhen we were stationed in Germany in the 60s to a tel-evangelist whose last name was Armstrong. However his first name and his middle initial did not ring a bell. Doing a Bing search for a YouTube video I came up on the name of Garner Ted Armstrong who was the tel-evangelist we used to listen to. I remember his voice was very pleasant
Garner Ted Armstrong was Herbert W. Armstrong’s son. He took over the radio broadcasts when his dad started doing television. If you liked his radio show the video I posted above will bring back memories.
And you’re trying to JUSTIFY their wealth and opulent lifestyles to what you believe they have contributed to helping the poor.
Like I said above, unless they’re housing the homeless in their mansions and using their Cadillacs as meals on wheels...........then they’re nothing but frauds.
Me- So does that make the Vatican and all the Protestant headquarters frauds? They aren’t housing the homeless in them are they.
When you show me scripture stating Christian preachers should live in poverty then I’ll accept your opinion
me- That was her choice. However the Vatican is full of riches and it is a mansion and the Pope is drven in expensive cars. He has bodyguards too
I was wondering about that. Yeah I enjoyed the radio program, because like I said Garner Ted Armstrong had a very pleasant voice
I know you are, the name just didn’t make any sense to me, but then I did a search of the name and it showed his picture, not the one you posted though
Does he own them or are they only provided for his protection?
This one belongs to the Church of Joel and is driven by himself........I've yet to see the Pope driving a Ferrari
Big difference between the riches of the Vatican, the protection of the Pope and the personal riches and opulence of the charlatans such as Joel Osteen and others of his ilk.
I challenge you to make an argument that the lifestyles of the Pope and his priests around the world are the equivalent of Joel Osteen................
5 minutes describing the likes of these people. And it ain’t pretty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igKhXFAfnzI
Didn’t the Beatles figure out their Guru was a lavish fraud...forget his name.
Sexy Sadie aka Maharishi mahesh Yogi (or something like that)
still no scriptures. just opinion about pastors having wealth.
those are nice things Osteen has. He pays alot in taxes since he has all that wealth. What taxes does the Vatican pay?
Where are the scriptures telling Christian pastors to be poor?? Waiting.
I don't know "scriptures" but I do recognize money hungry charlatans when I see them. Especially when they live in mansions, when they fly in personal jets and when they drive ferrari's while all the poor schleps who follow them cult like send in their moneys.
You can support Osteen and his ilk to the day you die but you'll never convince me they are NOT money hungry frauds........
God will be the final judge, not you or I. And I suspect he will not look favorably on them.......
The Church still offers all his work, and more. All free.
Nope, I don’t have to prove it in order for it to be true. How about you try to refute it?
Seems he lacks the flexibility of Paul who knew how to deal with variation in riches with aplomb. In fact Paul’s idea of rich was renting a home supported by his tent production hobby... not exactly up to an Ostentatious lifestyle.
And this, sir, is backed up by the bible.
(Don’t get me wrong, Osteen gets some things right, but he doesn’t have the background to be deep.)
You can support Osteen and his ilk to the day you die but you’ll never convince me they are NOT money hungry frauds........
Never said I supported Osteen. I just want a scriptural basis for your disdain of his wealth.
I get why you and others have your opinion. It bothers you that televangists ask for donations while living in mansions. That I get.
Nope, I don’t have to prove it in order for it to be true. How about you try to refute it?
why should I do that. I’m just interested in where your opinions came from.
I’m not attacking you for your opinion. Hope my questions didn’t come across as hostile. I was just curious.
I’m just really allergic to prooftexting because it is so easy to abuse. Look, a nice neat answer in one verse. There is some use for that, but a better view (and guide to how to use the verses) is had by understanding the bible as a character witness about the Lord, and by extension, what the Lord wants people to be like.
To someone who wants to be rich I’d say fine, now what does the bible say about riches and what do you want the riches for?
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