The message flickered into Cindy Fleenor's living room each night:
Be faithful in how you live and how you give, the television preachers
said, and God will shower you with material riches.
And so the 53-year-old accountant from the Tampa, Fla., area pledged $500 a year to Joyce Meyer,
the evangelist whose frank talk about recovering from childhood sexual
abuse was so inspirational. She wrote checks to flamboyant faith healer
Benny Hinn and a local preacher-made-good, Paula White.
Only the blessings didn't come. Fleenor ended up borrowing money
from friends and payday loan companies just to buy groceries. At first
she believed the explanation given on television: Her faith wasn't
strong enough.
"I wanted to believe God wanted to do something great with me like
he was doing with them," she said. "I'm angry and bitter about it.
Right now, I don't watch anyone on TV hardly."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071227/ap_on_re_us/prosperity_preachers;_yl...
It is a fraud message that pollutes the pure good news message of Christ.
The up side is that for each one that profits on folk like this there are a hundred that selflessly pour out their lives to help others.
So those that use this to slam God and his followers also should look at Franklin
Graham (http://www.samaritanspurse.org ) and others that do so much for millions around the world.
After that one guy, Oral Roberts I think, pulled that God's gonna call me home if I don't raise X amount of money scam I'm just shocked that anyone still sends money to those tv preachers.
Yes. But how is that any different than what the government does such as a 3/4% income tax renewal, levies, and bailouts?
"This [bad thing] will happen if you don't do this. . ."
Bilking and deception like this goes on because:
1. Some people are apathetic
2. Some people don't do their homework--they don't know any better.
3. Some people are fearful of becoming a target or getting labelled if they speak out against false teaching. (philosophical, political, or theological et al). which raises the question:
How can people know what is false if they don't know what is true and genuine? How can people know whether or not something is morally wrong if they don't know what is right?
By learning.
Heaven or Shangri-La does not have card reader for plastic.
People need to phone a person and have a prayer offered?
They can stand in their kitchen and do it with out middle man.
http://toledoohioneighborhoodconcerns.com/blog
Christianity has never been about wealth and prosperity. People were martyred for their beliefs such has the disciples of Christ and those throughout the Middle Ages.
History shows us that leaders and followers have indeed become enriched with treasures from far off lands.
The Crusades were about booty as well as spiritual conquest.
We fast forward to today and we have preachers accepting Visa/MC for phone in prayers and some are now under close scrutiny.
http://toledoohioneighborhoodconcerns.com/blog
TRUE Christianity has never been about wealth and prosperity. You can list the perversions of Christianity just like the perversions of anything man has gotten a hold of.
That would seem to imply the more ancient sects of the faith.
http://toledoohioneighborhoodconcerns.com/blog
no. it would seem to imply what the core of the faith is about. Jesus Christ.
anymore comments?
Bothered by discussion?
"no. it would seem to imply what the core of the faith is about. Jesus Christ."
Well sure, but why then the trappings of gold and silver and precious jewels and vast amounts of real estate and grand buildings and fund raisers and why the big salaries and perks for those in the hierarchy and then there are those that seek wealth and status as a preacher and line their pockets with goodies of all sorts, when the core message is the teachings of a prophet?
One persons view of trueness is not the same as another.
The old sects do not have the trappings of the new and they follow the words and not the Shamemen pin wheeling their arms and telling people that for a cost prayers will be sent upward.
Religion should not be about profit and motive, but with the commercialism of the faith, the message is getting lost.
Not bothered, just annoyed that I have to actually define "true Christianity."
The church I belong to and the faith I subscribe to has no hierarchy, no precious jewels, a small amount of real estate, and certainly not well off financially (just come to the next business meeting) and a pastor who has been there for 35 years.(he deserve the money, but probably makes 1/4th of these televangelists.)
I think what you are describing is Catholicism, and my church is far from that.
Cute assumptions, but dead wrong.
"Cute assumptions, but dead wrong."
Ah, no. I was raised an Episcopalian and the trappings were not modest. The gold and silver were on display and the wealth, in monetary terms was pretty solid.
Your church is of but of many that hold as sacred an ideal.
Some have bands and great commercial halls and all the trappings of a rock concert venue.
"Not bothered, just annoyed that I have to actually define "true Christianity."
There was no force and there was no obligation too, you, made the choice.
"I think what you are describing is Catholicism, and my church is far from that"
Many Catholics believe they have the true faith, also.
"and a pastor who has been there for 35 years.(he deserve the money, but probably makes 1/4th of these televangelists.)"
He is an honorable and humble person no doubt and money is not the object of the pastorage, there was something about a live of poverty at one time, but that seems to gone out of fashion.
Cindy Fleenor is a bit of a loon.
People who are weak and refuse to become stronger, end up suffering ... and it's not just a singular suffering, but they tend to seek out new sources of abuse in order to sustain or increase their suffering. It's perverse and pathetic and I reject it.
These so-called preachers may be appalling and disgusting, but they are perfectly free to beg and cajole the public for money. This is America, dammit. You can be as stupid as you want to be.
i'm waiting for this story to be checked out on snopes.com. either it's full of crap, and someone is out to trash Christianity, or she has a lot of unresolved sin she has not repented for therefor blessing have cot come yet. God does not tell us to go into debt for His sake, " the borrower is servant to the lender." Proverbs 22:7. something is fishy about this story. whatever the truth is, it does not discourage me to keep giving.
It's called "Exploitation of a Diety".
It happens every day thousands of times and no one has said anything until now?.
If you're on TV begging for money, you're not doing it for God. You're doing it to pay the bills. Just ask the Roberts and the Hinns and the O'Steens.
Missions within less fortunate areas are God's will, doing your effort in God's name.
Why this made news is beyond me. Just sic the IRS on em and let the auditors sort it out.
If I were a mainstream Christian, I'd be making a stand against these moneychangers.
I had no idea that people have taken a verse and turned it into a gospel of prosperity, but some God told they should do so in return for wealth.
"Heritage Christian Center is also a place where Bishop Dennis Leonard wears a Rolex and drives a Cadillac but won't answer questions about the budget, families are urged to give to the church before they pay their bills, and good works stand in contrast to arrangements that financially benefit the church's first family.
Leonard, 57, a former building contractor and entrepreneur turned Pentecostal preacher, is a practitioner of what scholars call the prosperity gospel, the teaching that God wants his followers to flourish financially. Leonard tells an estimated 7,000 people who attend services each weekend that spiritual and material blessings await them if they "put God first" and donate the first 10 percent of their income to the church.
An examination of public records and interviews with former church leaders and members reveal a largely unknown side of a church empire that began 21 years ago in Leonard's basement and has grown into one of metro Denver's most prominent religious institutions:
Project Heritage, a nonprofit founded by the church, was faulted for squeezing too much profit out of a government program to help low-income families buy renovated homes. Leonard's daughter-in-law and the daughters of the board chairman earned real estate commissions on the home sales, which the government flagged as a conflict of interest. "
http://www.denverpost.com/prosperitygospel/ci_4459571
"Bank on God: storing up riches on earth"
"Bishop Dennis Leonard calls it a step of faith. Standing on stage under the bright lights, the pastor tells Heritage Christian Center members that if they give 10 percent of their income to the church, God will bless their families for generations to come.
Show some patience, Leonard explains, and expect a turnaround in about 90 days.
A new house, a new business, tuition for college ... God will help deliver them, he says.
Gifts can be made with cash, credit card or checks written out to "HCC," he instructs. An ATM sits in the lobby, near the neon cross that reads, "Jesus Saves."
This is a reading from the prosperity gospel, the belief that God will reward faithful givers in this life with material wealth, a teaching that has ebbed and flowed for nearly a century but is finding prominence again among present-day televangelists.
Big-name Christian leaders from Joel Osteen to Joyce Meyer preach variations of the prosperity gospel.
Other scholars and pastors, including best-selling author Rick Warren of "The Purpose Driven Life" fame, have called it creating a false idol. "
http://www.denverpost.com/prosperitygospel/ci_4458880