Posted on 05/02/2005 6:18:32 PM PDT by pissant
TV evangelist Joyce Meyer and her family have received millions in salary and benefits from her worldwide ministry in recent years, according to newly released records.
The documents, obtained by the Post-Dispatch under Missouri's Open Records laws, provide the first public look at how the worldwide broadcasting and publishing empire has compensated Meyer and her family.
They paint a picture of a minister and her family who have reaped large financial rewards from the ministry they created and control. Over 20 years, Joyce Meyer Ministries of Fenton has grown to a $90 million-a-year empire with TV and radio programs that reach millions of people in about 70 countries.
Among the details included in the financial statements, board minutes and other documents Meyer provided to the assessor of Jefferson County in a dispute over the tax-exempt status of its headquarters property:
The ministry's board of trustees, which is headed by Joyce Meyer, agreed to pay her a $900,000 annual salary in 2002 and 2003.
The board agreed to give her husband, Dave Meyer, the board's vice president, an annual salary of $450,000 in each of those same two years.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
Good observation.
Many TV preachers speak of the need to fund "the ministry" - i.e., operating expenses - when they are asking for money. When it turns out that "the ministry" includes luxury homes and a luxury lifestyle, I think people have been deceived.
Man you are dense.
Put the bottle down, dude.
"The logical outcome of a theology that believes that you can do anything you want, once you are "saved".
Sorry, friend. You didn't think this one through. The name-it-and-claim-it types come from a theological heritage that does not believe in eternal security of the believer.
Furthermore, they can't teach once save, always saved because, if you will listen to Joyce et al., there is always an implied punishment if one doesn't support the ministry, the disfavor of God could follow. The thousand-pound gorilla in the room is that, if you don't voluntarily support the ministry, God COULD let you go. It's never stated outright, of course.
Another group that concerns me is the Hillsong group from Australia. They've got these three foxy blonde singers -damned good singers, and good lookers - along with several male singers, a huge choir, dozens of musicians, and their church is like an arena and their services are like rock concerts; they create a wall of sound that Phil Spector would envy. It's very impressive, thousands of mostly young people singing praises to the Lord. And as I watch it, I'm thinking: there's a hell of a lot of money going into these productions, an enormous amount. And it looks very much like big business, and I figure someday there's gonna be a big scandal.
"The Spirit tells me - Fidel Castro will die - in the 90's. Oooh my! Some will try to kill him and they will not succeed. But there will come a change in his physical health, and he will not stay in power, and Cuba will be visited of God." Orlando Christian Center, Dec. 31st, 1989 real audio link
"The Lord also tells me to tell you in the mid 90's, about '94-'95, no later than that, God will destroy the homosexual community of America. [audience applauds] But He will not destroy it - with what many minds have thought Him to be, He will destroy it with fire. And many will turn and be saved, and many will rebel and be destroyed." Orlando Christian Center, Dec. 31st, 1989 real audio link
"...But I am telling you right now, things I haven't said years 'n years 'n years ago. I believe - here this, hear this! I believe, that Jesus, God's Son, is about to appear physically, in meetings and to believers around the world, to wake us up! He appeared after His resurrection and He is about to appear before His second coming! You know a prophetess sent me a word through my wife, right here, and she said 'Tell your husband that Jesus is go'n to physically appear in his meetings.' I am expecting to see, I am telling you that - I feel it's going to happen...." TBN Praise-a-thon, April 2nd, 2000 real video link
There are many more, but these you can hear with your own ears. Of course, according to Biblical standards, we need only one.
Who are you quoting? Benny Hinn?
TONS of it.
Yes, those are Hinn quotes.
Idiot, I doubt that. What's the context that you desire Matt.7:4 to be taken in. Jesus is teaching about judging. Beginning in Matt.6:1 Jesus teaches about the practice of kingdom life by teaching "in relation to" on seven topics. This teaching ends with Matt.7:12.
One thing (about Benny Hinn) that strikes me as obviously fake is when he's sitting in the studio and looks at the camera and says something like, "I see a woman with a problem with her hip that's being healed by Jesus right now." The only problem is that the program is pre-recorded, so when the viewer is hearing him say that isn't when he really said it, but he's trying to convey the impression that the healing is occurring right as you are listening to him.
Predicting in 1989 that Castro would die in the 90s wasn't a huge gamble - it very well could have happened - but it didn't. So he was even wrong on this relatively "safe" prediction. lol
If people are stupid enough to give money to someone or something without checking it out first, it's at least 50% their own fault when they get scammed. I don't give money to anything that doesn't disclose its finances and isn't a charity I've thoroughly checked out. I only give money to four groups that I know very well and they're all charities.
Fellers, try not to be so nice to each other will ya. They'll pull the thread if they see personal insults. Thanks
http://www.trinityfi.org/press/JoyceMeyer2.html
Click the image for a view of the family compound.
It's a thread about Christians. Kind of ironic, huh?
ping
If these people want to be millionaires and live the lavish lifestyle, they should find another way to do it besides bilking Christians for donations.
I wonder how many people like Joyce and Dave, the Copelands, Benny Hinn, etc., would be multimillionaires if they had to start their own businesses in the secular world and play by the rules of that world. No tax exemptions, no ability to play on the sincerity and goodheartedness of freely giving Christians, no ability to sell snake oil without some government or consumer agency lowering the boom, etc.
Excellent post. We studied this verse in depth once and my bible teacher explained that the primary reason for Jesus' anger at this was that non-Jews could not enter the temple. In other words, only "believers" in the one God could enter the temple and the non-believers (non-Jews) could only enter the outer area where all of these shenanigans were going on. Thus, they would never see what God was really about; the would only see the money-mongerers, the fakes and I see this as an excellent comparison with what we see on TV with these televangelists. So many unsaved people only see these people as their examples of Christianity and it is a poor, weak, and bad witness to the true faith.
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