Posted on 07/06/2005 10:19:01 AM PDT by pkajj
DALLAS (AP) _ The Internal Revenue Service is looking into the operations and finances of televangelist Benny Hinn's organization, according to a published report.
The IRS wouldn't discuss the case, but a representative for Benny Hinn Ministries confirmed to The Dallas Morning News that the inquiry is under way, characterizing it as routine.
Critics have argued that Hinn improperly profits from a ministry that hasn't met the IRS definition of a church for years. The ministry is estimated to raise more than $100 million a year.
But his public relations contractor dismissed the possibility that tax exemptions could be at risk. Hinn spokesman Ronn Torossian said the ministry has "fully cooperated with the IRS" and is not being audited.
Hinn's ministry, formally renamed the World Healing Center Church in 2000, has had its administrative and mail-processing headquarters in Grapevine since a year earlier. Hinn, 52, and his family live in California.
According to documents provided to the newspaper by a watchdog group, the inquiry into the ministry began a year ago and the IRS has asked for dozens of detailed answers. The Trinity Foundation has investigated Hinn for more than a decade.
Hinn ministry responses to IRS questions and a purported salary list for ministry officials are among documents that Trinity members said they salvaged from trash bins outside Hinn-related offices.
The salary document lists Hinn as CEO and his annual earnings as $1.325 million. Attorneys for the ministry, in a letter to The News, said the document was either a fake or had been stolen.
The newspaper found that another watchdog group's complaint to the IRS _ that the ministry lacks financial oversight and independent governance _ may have led the agency to question the operation through what's called a church tax-inquiry letter.
Wall Watchers, a North Carolina-based advocacy group for religious donors, recently issued an alert about the Hinn ministry through its Ministry Watch Web site.
Wall Watchers sent a letter to the IRS early last year calling for an investigation of the Hinn Ministry, said Rod Pitzer, Wall Watchers' research director.
Hinn and his attorneys, who declined to be interviewed, have maintained the ministry uses proper accounting.
These results should be interesting.
Two points:
1. The IRS has already used its power for politically motivated harrassment of conservative non-profit organizations and some individuals during the Clinton administration.
2. There are some religious ministries/institutions that deserve scrutity. Hinn's organization is probably one of them.
I don't recall Jesus having any "attorneys" so probably Hinn's inability and powerlessness to die for his own sins, which no doubt are legion, he needs multiple "lawyers" just to keep his dead body from being locked up in the "pokey" for his "innocent" and "unintended" actions!
Poor, poor misunderstood and mistreated "showhorse" Benny Baby!
Oh, man, I had to clean up my keyboard after busting out laughing at that one.
Maybe very early in his career, but in recent years he made no pretense of trying for a "church" exemption. His flock sent in the money big time, as personal gifts to Dr Scott and he didn't have to open his books to anybody. He was shameless in his demands for ever-greater contributions, but actually very entertaining to watch or listen to (24 hrs a day on shortwave!).
Agreed on both counts. Just something to watch carefully.
About Time.......
Hinn and his ilk will get their full measure in due time for the damage they've caused.
hinn is a charlatan, imo.
We've had the same experience in my family... Some people
I guess the whole Word of Faith crowd doesn't have enough faith either, because a lot of them get injured, get diseases, and die from diseases. They claim that the Lord has healed them when they get well, but somehow the Lord is always working through medical doctors when these healings occur. I am not making fun of Christian faith for healing; Jesus Christ did commend many people for their faith in Him to heal people, and we are told to make our petitions known to God, for elders to lay hands on the sick and anoint them will oil, etc. I pray for healings for myself and others all the time. It's just that the Word of Faith money preaching frauds are quite distant from Jesus Christ.
Here is a list of sick or dead Word of Faith "giants" that your church friend might like to review.
http://www.myfortress.org/SickGurus.html
Well, at least Benny's already got the Nehru collar thing going.
Benny Hinn was a respected and much loved British comedian, and why the IRS would hound him is beyond me, as he's not even an American, and he's been dead several years now....
Wait, a pigeon just whacked me in the back of the head. Then a leggy, busty, barely dressed, blowsy, big-haired woman in heels rushed up to me, gushing, "Benny HILL, silly!"
Could...not...resist.
What always gets me is that word faith doctrine doesn't work anywhere else but the US and a few other countries. Most of the world's Christians have insufficient faith according to the prosperity gospel.
PAY UP OR ELSE.?. The old WACO maneuver(updated)..
It don't pay to ROB the Dictatorship of Proletariat..
Them Proletarians(whoever they are) can get mean...
ping
It's a miracle.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.