[svcw]

What an odd thing to admit to: "There's this notion that if you pay your tithing and do what you're supposed to do, the windows of heaven will be open to you and God will pour you out a blessing such that there's not room enough to receive it," said Keith Woodwell, a church member and director of the Division of Securities, the state's chief investigator of investment fraud. "So it's very easy for someone who has [fraud] as their motive to use that doctrine and say, 'Look, you're a member in good standing and you pay your tithing and you're entitled to be blessed.' "

God is not Santa Claus. Where do they get this stuff? Not from the Bible.

[muawiyah]

The sort of scams that nail Mormons regularly have been well-practiced by the scam artists for a very long time. They know what works, and it's not just with Mormons.

Many times you'll find someone with a background in one of the many non-LDS Mormon groups who wends his way into an isolated stake, and next thing you know he's sold millions of dollars of life and casualty insurance ~ and then he/she disappears!

Other times it's one of the fellows from the older (circa 1702 for post Scandinavian appearances) congregations flying under the name Church of the First born. (NOTE: do not rely on the SPLC definitions of these groups ~ they are so wrong on so many counts it's unbelievable ~ they want to restrict the non-Mormon related COTFB to just the 19th century Laestidians ~ which is bizarre).

Some COTFB frauds against LDS folks have been limited to the standard bad-insurance deal. Others are more serious. Warren Jeffs' family come to mind as probable COTFB types who moved in on some isolated but otherwise wealthy independent non-LDS Mormons and turned them into a regular gravy train for the Jeffs and a couple of other families under the title FLDS.

That deal was the rough equivalent of how Mr. Howell, calling himself "David Koresh" took over a small SDA (Seventh Day Adventist) denomination ~ one of his grandmothers claimed COTFB affiliation in the Tulsa area, and he endedup being taken out of business by Bill Clinton whose baby daddy was a member of another COTFB group in Arkansas (which gives you some links to REAL Gypsies and REAL traditional scams).

[magritte]

Isn’t this the Prosperity Gospel that many Evangelicals follow??...real question...saw some guy on religion TV talking about “seed money” and the like...magritte

[PoolQue]

Where do they get this stuff? Not from the Bible.

Which Bible do you use? Mine says:

Malachi 3:10 "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

You may interpret it differently, but the text is there...

[restornu]

What are you talking about?

[Elsie]

Where do they get this stuff? Not from the Bible.

TV - the PROSPERITY gospel!