Right-Wing Exposed

A major emphasis of right-wing Evangelicals in recent years has been to keep the Ten Commandments in our secular culture.  Right-wingers are fighting to keep them in our public and government buildings, and would like to once again have them put back in our public schools.  This issue received national attention when the Alabama chief justice, Roy Moore, was removed from his judicial position because of his refusal to remove the Ten Commandments from government property.

The Christian Right has drawn a line in the sand regarding the Ten Commandments, and is willing to pursue all legal avenues to keep them in our culture.  Conservative, religious, legal organizations, such as the “American Center for Law and Justice” and the “Alliance Defense Fund”, have fought, and are fighting, many legal battles on behalf of the Church in courts across America to keep the Ten Commandments in our public and government buildings.

One would think that Evangelicals must hold the Ten Commandments in high esteem and cherish them greatly, based on their aggressive efforts to have them recognized in our public institutions.  One would expect that the Church itself must be honoring, teaching and preaching these commandments.  One would surmise that the importance of these commandments, and of obeying them, must be a major focus among Evangelicals.  One would assume that the same Church that insists that the Ten Commandments should not have been removed from our public schools, would never tolerate any attempt to remove them from the Church.  It would certainly be logical to assume and expect these things, yet this is not the case.

A common teaching within Evangelical Christianity is that the Ten Commandments were nailed to the cross of Jesus and have been abolished.  I myself had a debate on a Christian college campus with the president of the Christian Apologetics Ministry in Minneapolis regarding this issue, and he espoused this teaching.  The same Christian Church that denounces the removal of the Ten Commandments from our public institutions, readily accepts the proclamation of a doctrine that, in effect, removes the Ten Commandments from the Church!  I think that most reasonable people would find this to be inconsistent and hypocritical.

If Evangelicals want our secular society to recognize and honor the Ten Commandments, it would seem reasonable for them to do so first.  After all, why should our secular culture want them if the Church doesn’t?

Unquestionably the issue that right-wing Evangelicals emphasize most is their pro-life agenda.  They have fought against abortion ever since Roe v. Wade became law, and it is their intent to overturn this, what they consider to be, bad law.

My question to Evangelical leaders is: “Are you truly pro-life?”  You are fighting to save the lives of the unborn across America, but what about the already born?  According to the “Feed My Starving Children” organization, more than five million children will die from starvation this year.  And, based on their figures, everyone of them could be fed two nutritious meals a day throughout the year for less than 600 million dollars.

Based on statistics from “The Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches” and “The National Center for Charitable Statistics”, the total annual donated income of Christian churches and ministries in America is about eighty billion dollars.  That means that if every Christian church and ministry set aside just one percent of their annual income to feed starving children, there would be enough money to feed all of them two meals a day throughout the year.

These are already born children who feel the pangs of hunger and who wither away before their parents’ eyes.  While the American Church is sitting on hundreds of billions of dollars in assets, can’t it allocate one percent of its massive annual income to save these children?

I am pro-life myself, and personally oppose abortion, but this is pure hypocrisy.  Our secular society would probably be more receptive to hear what Evangelicals have to say about the unborn, once they have established credibility by taking care of the already born.

Many of you probably remember the song by Jefferson Airplane titled “Leaving On A Jet Plane”.  Of course,  the mode of transportation referred to was a commercial airliner, not a personally owned private jet.  And, today’s “dedicated” tele-evangelists certainly should not be expected to “lower themselves” to traveling via such ordinary, humble and inconvenient means.

As you know by now, many of these humble servants of God have their own private jets, courtesy of the donations made to their ministries.  So, what’s with today’s title, “Leaving On Four Jet Planes”?  Kenneth Copeland and his wife, Gloria, have not one, not two, not three, but four private jets at their disposal.  After all, who knows when one of them might break down?  Oh, that’s right, that still leaves them three.  Well, Ken and Gloria might have to fly to meetings at different locations.  Wait a minute, that still leaves them one extra jet.  But, never mind, I’m sure the Copelands have their own very good reasons, since Ken says that he hears clear and specific messages from God on a regular basis.

In one of those clear messages from God, Ken was told to purchase his newest private jet, a $20 million “Cessna Citation 10″ luxury jet.  Boy, do I feel ashamed and embarrassed now.  Here I was, questioning the Copeland’s “private air force”, while Ken was only buying these jets so that he could obey God.  I’ve learned my lesson.  I was going to tell you about the reports done by the Dallas Morning News and News Channel WFAA in Dallas, in which they revealed that the Copelands used their new jet for private skiing trips in Colorado and hunting trips at a wild game ranch in Texas, as well as layovers in Honolulu, Maui and the Fiji Islands; but, having learned my lesson, I will not suggest to you that Ken is abusing ministry finances, because he was probably just obeying God once again.  After all, if God tells you to take your $20 million ministry jet to go hunting or skiing, you have to obey God, right?

By the way, Ken has also stated that God has told him that he and Gloria should each have their own “Cessna Citation 10″ jet.  And, I hope that you don’t make the same mistake that I did, by questioning the Copelands’ use of ministry funds.  Think about it, how would it look for Ken to fly to his meeting in a $20 million jet, while Gloria has to fly to her meeting in one of their old $5 million planes?  Moreover, what do you expect Ken to do, disobey God?  You need to repent as I did, and unquestionably trust that the Copelands will do what’s right, obey God, and buy that second $20 million jet as soon as enough ministry funds are available.  You can be sure that they will not let any other unworthy ministry projects, such as feeding starving children or helping the homeless, take funds away from what’s really important, adding to the Copelands’ “Air Force”.

I also want you to know that, while you’re sitting there in your comfortable 2000 square foot house or 1000 square foot apartment, The Copelands are struggling to maintain their 18,000 square foot “shack” (ministry parsonage) on Eagle Mountain Lake.  And, the Copelands’ burdens don’t stop there, for they also have numerous personally owned real estate holdings, as well as gas and oil wells to manage.  Yes, theirs is a difficult lifestyle.  Furthermore, I hope that you’re not wondering where they got the money to buy these assets, because it should be obvious that God probably told Ken to take enough money from their ministry to cover the cost of each and every piece of real estate and all of those gas and oil wells; then, Kenneth Copeland humbly and unselfishly obeyed “his god”. 

Yes, I intentionally did not capitalize the word “god” in the last sentence, because Kenneth Copeland’s “god” is certainly not the Deity described in the Bible.  His god is money and the pleasures and treasures of this world.  He and his “ilk” give Christianity a bad name.  Kenneth Copeland’s lifestyle is the complete antithesis of Jesus’ life revealed in the Bible.  Mr. Copeland, you should be ashamed of yourself.  You could have saved the lives of 363,636 starving children with the money you payed for that fourth jet.  WWJD Ken?  How can you sleep at nights? 

Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) is the largest religious broadcasting network in the world.  They have over 10,000 stations that literally span the globe.  Its founders, Paul and Jan Crouch, may have come from humble beginnings, but their lifestyle is anything but humble today.  And, TBN’s airwaves are filled with the voices of many of the money-loving preachers I’ve been exposing on my “Evangelical Monday” blogs; the likes of Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, Kenneth Copeland etc.  The old saying, “birds of a feather flock together”, often holds true.

Paul and Jan Crouch have “tightened their belts” and managed to get by with a combined annual income of $800,000.  They have humbled themselves to live in a $5 million oceanfront home in California that has an elevator, billiard room, climate controlled wine room, as well as nine bathrooms.  Let’s see, that would be four and a half bathrooms apiece.  That almost seems like more than necessary for two people,  but maybe they have diarrhea a lot.  Oh, I forgot to mention that they also have a $10 million, 80 acre ranch in Texas that has another eight houses.  Hmm, that would be another four houses each.  I guess they just need some private space to be alone at times.  And, who are we to judge?  We’ve all played the game of musical chairs.  Perhaps Paul and Jan play a variation of the game, “musical houses”.  Like Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar and most other tv preachers, Paul has a $13 million private jet furnished to him by TBN.  I imagine that was donation money well-spent because Paul has to keep up with the other tv hucksters.  Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be for Paul to have to fly “first class” on a regular airline, while “Brother Benny”, Joyce and Creflo fly in their own private jets?  The man has a reputation to protect; in fact, quite a reputation, as you will see. 

Maybe I’m being too hard on Paul and Jan.  After all, Paul did limit the size of his executive office in the TBN building to just 8000 square feet.  And, he was very discreet about its construction.  He only allowed a special crew of 25 carpenters to work on it, while it was off-limits to everyone else.  Now that I think about it, his executive office is still off-limits to everyone but Paul and Jan themselves, and special guests who they personally invite to visit with them in Paul’s modest “work area”.  What kind of conditions does Paul have to endure as he slaves away?  Just an office that’s four times larger than the average American house, and that contains a sauna, gym, bar, ornate velvet furniture and the most expensive custom, walnut woodworking available in the world.  You know, the kind of stuff that I’m sure you’d find in your local insurance or real estate agent’s office.  Did I mention that the 25 member carpentry crew worked full-time for six months on Paul’s office, which would have been a labor cost of about $780,000.  Once again, you can see that Paul and Jan made sure to “cut corners” to save their donors unnecessary expenses.

Also, don’t pay any attention to those stories that became public a few years ago regarding Paul’s alleged homosexual affair with his former limo driver.  What’s the chances of that being true?  Just because the story has been corroborated by a former employee of Crouch’s good friend Benny Hinn, and by an attorney who worked at the law firm that TBN and Crouch used for handling their legal matters.  And, just because Paul paid his alleged “gay partner” $425,000 in hush money, does not mean that Paul is guilty, right?

In view of the kind of characters being covered each week in my “Evangelical Monday” blogs, I’m beginning to wonder if I shouldn’t change the name of my Monday segments to something more appropriate; maybe a soap opera kind of name like, “As The Stomach Turns”. 

There are so many corrupt options to choose from each week for “Evangelical Monday”, which, in itself, is a sad statement regarding conditions within the American Evangelical Church.  It almost becomes a random choice between “equal offenders”, so this week I have arbitrarily decided to focus on Benny Hinn.

You may be wondering why I have chosen to title this week’s segment, “Benny The Hinn”.  I want to say upfront that I am making a comparison that is extreme in many ways, but not in every respect.  You probably remember studying about “Attila the Hun” in history classes.  He was a fierce and cruel military commander in the fifth century whose name struck fear in the hearts of his adversaries.  He brutally killed, pillaged and plundered all who opposed him.  I am not accusing Benny Hinn of murder or burning and pillaging people’s homes and villages.  However, the dictionary definition of plunder can certainly be applied to “Brother Benny”.  Why?  The dictionary’s definition for plunder is to take others’ goods or belongings by force, wrongfully or by fraud. 

Benny solicits donations from gullible audiences, which frequently include the elderly with meager incomes, on the basis that these funds are needed to enable him to preach the gospel.  But, audits and investigations done in recent years have revealed many troubling things about “Brother Benny’s Traveling Salvation Show”.  This humble preacher forces himself to stay in hotel accommodations that you would never catch the average person in; that is, $2200 per night presidential suites.  And, when his hard work schedule causes him to endure those painful layovers between his crusades, he usually ends up having to layover in such out of the way places as Hawaii, Cancun, London or Milan, Italy.

We also need to understand the kind of personal living conditions Brother Benny has humbly chosen to endure.  His parsonage (home financed by his ministry) is a meager multi-million-dollar oceanfront dwelling.  And, he has lowered himself to driving two ”economy vehicles”, an $80,000 Mercedes Benz SUV and an $80,000 Mercedes convertible.  Of course, he also has use of another necessity, a private jet costing one and one-half million dollars annually to operate.  Fortunately, he has been able to keep his salary slightly above the minimum wage, $1.325 million a year, as reported by the “Denton Record Chronicle”.  After all, Brother Benny and his family have clothes to buy and utility bills to pay.  I think that such usage of donations solicited to finance the proclamation of the gospel could certainly be constituted as being plundering.  Why?  If Brother Benny told his listeners that a big portion of their donations were going to be used to finance his “fat cat” lifestyle, it is probable that his ministry’s income would decrease substantially.  What do you think the response would be if he asked his audience to send contributions to pay for him to stay in $2200 per night presidential suites, or to pay for his oceanfront mansion or his two Mercedes luxury vehicles?  We know the answer to that question, and so does Benny; that’s why his requests for donations are always declared to be for the preaching of the gospel.

However, to be fair to Benny, I must admit that there were at least two occasions when he did tell his supporters that he was requesting funds for other reasons.  Several years ago he told them right upfront that he was raising $30 million to build a “World Healing Center”.  He also asked for donations where he plainly stated that the funds were being used to build orphanages in Central America.  It is only right to acknowledge that Brother Benny did not state that these two fundraisers were to finance the gospel.  Oh, by the way, a few years after raising the money for these two worthy purposes, neither the healing center or the orphanages had been built.  You know, Benny is a busy man.  I’m sure that he just hadn’t been able to make the time to follow through yet, what with his having to endure layovers in Hawaii and the like.

Can you say “plunder”?  Perhaps you would like to make a donation to “Benny The Hinn”. 

Spring is the season for baseball, picnics, flower gardens and weddings.  So, it seems appropriate for this week’s Evangelical Monday segment to feature a “Christian” wedding. 

The self-proclaimed prophetess, Juanita Bynum, had a typical, ordinary wedding not too long ago.  You know, the common, everyday wedding scenario with nearly 1000 guests, a 12-piece orchestra and 80 people in the wedding party.  And, Juanita wore the humble wedding attire of a preacher; a satin gown covered with Swarovski crystals and the standard 50 foot train.  Juanita and her groom, Bishop Thomas Weeks the third, did not want to be ostentatious, so they downsized her wedding ring to a meager 7.76 carat diamond; moreover, to be frugal, they limited the total cost of the wedding to about one million dollars.

Who officiated this modest event?  John Hagee was one of the pastors.  I guess that he was probably a good choice, since a million-dollar wedding certainly calls for a million-dollar preacher.  Of course, every wedding needs a photographer, but when you have an 80-person wedding party you need more than one photographer.  And, who could be better to provide this service for such an event than an 8-member camera crew from TBN, Trinity Broadcasting Network.  So, don’t go rushing to judgment about the cost of this event because, as you can see, this ceremony was all about the gospel; a preacher-bride, a preacher-groom, a preachers’ camera crew, and a pro-Israel, anti-Catholic, millionaire preacher officiating the service.  What a holy event, right?

Unfortunately, not long after the wedding, the “Christian couple” parted ways.  And, not long after the separation, the  “Bishop” Weeks was arrested for assaulting the “prophetess”, allegedly having kicked, hit and choked her.  I’m sure it was just a little Christian disagreement conducted with love and respect.  Once again, don’t jump to hasty and unfair conclusions about these two dedicated servants of God, because there is a perfectly good explanation why this lovers’ spat occurred.  Bishop Weeks told authorities that “the devil made him do it”.  Now that you know the reason, I’ll bet you’re probably feeling a bit ashamed for having judged them, aren’t you?

Now that the Bishop has been expelled from Juanita’s nearly $5 million estate, the prophetess has more time to concentrate on how to better spread the gospel.  Therefore, she is creating a new makeup and bath products line, as well as planning to add a health spa for women onto her tiny 24-acre homestead.  How does that spread the gospel?  Well, how better to show people God’s love than by providing them quality lipstick, lotions and shampoo at slightly out-of-line prices?  And, you must also remember that this woman claims to be a prophetess, so God must have told her to spread the age-old truth that cleanliness is next to godliness.

It’s really too bad that Juanita Bynum and Thomas Weeks split up, because they made a good couple who deserved each other.  That’s “Evangelical Monday” for this week.

I think I’m going to have to do a weekly Evangelical, mega church, prosperity preaching feature.  It just gets more and more outrageous in Evangelical, “mega church land”.  The Wittenburg Door publication interviewed Pastor Erfolg Reussi of the Grande Church in Atlanta, Ga. regarding the “ultra mega church” that they’ve built.  Their facility is a stadium-style worship center that seats 35,000.

Size is not the only thing that distinguishes Grande Church.  Included in their elaborate and luxurious facility are “luxury sky-boxes”.  You know, the kind that sports stadiums offer with all the “bells and whistles”.  Of course, these luxury boxes are not accessible or available for the common, “run of the mill” person.  That’s right, discrimination is alive and well at Grande Church.  In fact, in the interview, Pastor Reussi actually referred to the people who have the honor of occupying these luxury boxes, as being “discriminating people”.  I’m sure he didn’t mean for his statement to sound the way it did, but it was, in fact, a statement of truth.

Owners of these luxury boxes are escorted in and out of the worship services through a private passageway to a secure parking garage.  Their boxes have reflective glass so they can have the best seats in the house watching the services, but the ordinary, “common folk” can not see into their private and luxurious lairs.  After all, why should these “valuable worshippers” get soiled by mingling with the poor?  When communion is served it is brought to their private boxes, and these honored worshippers can even bring their own “special wine” if they wish.  Some of these boxes have even been soundproofed so they don’t have to listen to the singing of the “blue collar” crowd below.  In fact, they are offered their own semi-professional, three or four person praise team to sing with them in each of their own private boxes.

What’s inside these luxury boxes for the “rich and religious”?  Each one is a private room with plush, comfortable seating, separate climate control, refrigerator, sink, microwave, one or more large-screen TVs and a private bathroom.  Who gets to occupy these special suites?  Pastor Reussi says that they are to thank and honor those who have made their grand mega church possible. 

When asked how much it costs for someone to get a luxury box, Pastor Reussi said it is not determined by cost, but is a “thank you gift” for extremely generous givers.  When asked how large of a donation it would take to qualify for this “thank you gift”, he said that if a person has to ask, then the regular seating area would be better for them.

Wow!  Are you thinking what I’m thinking?  What hypocrisy, selfishness and greed in the name of religion.  This is not what Jesus would do.  Obviously Grande Church is ignorant of , or does not care, what the Bible says about not showing favoritism or partiality; moreover, that it states in the book of James that favoring  the rich over the poor is sin.  I suggest, as is pictured in The Wittenburg Door’s article, that Pastor Reussi”s church take down the “cross” from their church and replace it with a dollar sign.

I hope you read my piece last week titled, “Lifestyles Of The Rich And Religious”.  That one should have startled you, but we have plenty more startling revelations to come.  Today I want to share some things with you about Joyce Meyer Ministries.  Joyce Meyer is probably the most famous woman preacher/teacher in America, if not the entire world.

The St. Louis Post Dispatch revealed some interesting data some time ago about Joyce Meyer and her ministry.  The figures released were from the years 2002 and 2003.  It was reported that the annual income of her ministry was about 90 million dollars.  It also revealed that Joyce’s annual salary was $900,000, and her husband Dave’s was $450,000.  That’s nearly a million and a half annually between the two of them.  Not bad for a “gospel preacher”.  But, that’s only half of the story.

Joyce’s ministry also bought her and Dave a two million dollar home with all bills paid by the ministry.  I guess we can understand that, right?  I mean how can she and her husband possibly pay for their own home with the mere million and a half salary they receive?  Oh, by the way, they also received an additional $50,000 annually for a housing allowance.  Well, I guess everyone needs a petty cash account for those odds and ends that you can’t afford.  And, the ministry board authorized the Meyers to control another $790,000 fund to be used at their discretion for bonuses to “executive management”.  I wonder who that could be, let’s see, Joyce is the President of the board and her husband Dave is the vice-president.  Well, just because they’re the two highest executive management officers does not necessarily mean that any of that extra $790,000 went to them, right?  And, even if it did, these people have bills to pay and hungry mouths to feed too.  Oh, that’s right, their bills are paid by the ministry. 

Then, there’s the Meyers’ three children.  Joyce saw to it that she wasn’t going to be a selfish parent and leave them out, so she had her ministry buy each of them a home.  However, you have to give Joyce credit.  She did not want to spoil her children by giving each of them million dollar homes, so she only let her ministry pay $1,475,000 total for the three homes.  She made her children live humbly in half-million dollar houses.  Good for you Joyce.

There are reportedly between 8 and 11 members on her ministry board.  Of course, Joyce, Dave and two or three of their children are included among those members.  I suppose they want to have enough family members on the board to make sure that the board doesn’t get carried away and give them more than what’s necessary to enable them to live humble lives as followers of Jesus.

I should mention that the board also authorized the Meyers to have free use of a corporate jet.  A few years ago when Joyce was in Minneapolis she shared why she needs to fly to her meetings in a private jet.  She explained that waiting in airports and all of the accompanying hassles involved with airline terminals would be so tiring.  Whereas now, when flying in her private jet, she can arrive at her meetings feeling fresh and be better prepared to be used by God.  I guess that makes sense.  How stupid of me not to think of that.  I should have known that Joyce would have a good and valid reason.  People need to travel in luxury in order to be powerfully used by God as Joyce is at her meetings.  That must be why the Apostle Paul either walked or rode an animal as he traveled across the Middle East, Europe and Asia preaching the gospel, so that he could be fresh for his meetings as well.  Paul knew Joyce’s secret.  Just ride a mule hundreds of miles and then you’ll be ready to be used powerfully by God.  After all, a mule and a private jet could be considered to be comparable methods of transportation when it comes to comfortable travel in preparation for preaching appointments.  Likewise, the Apostle Paul, who literally wrote half of the New Testament and evangelized two continents walking and riding an animal, was probably not used anymore powerfully by God than Joyce Meyer.  And, I’m sure that he probably used similar tactics as Joyce as well, right?

Joyce Meyer and the rest of these personal-jet-flying, million-dollar-salary-taking, mansion-living, diamond-wearing, luxury-car-driving, self-pampering, prosperity-preaching, gospel-abusing television evangelists are not worthy to carry the shoes of the Apostle Paul or any of the early disciples of Jesus Christ.  Paul said that he preached the gospel “free of charge” so that he would not “abuse his authority” in the gospel.  Does that sound like Joyce Meyer or her cohorts? 

It’s time to expose these Evangelical frauds, and that is what you will find me doing every Monday.  The Bible says that church leaders who sin publicly should be exposed and rebuked publicly.  So, I encourage you to share these posts far and wide.  These are the same people who are also very vocal and active in the right-wing political arena.  When people see their greed and corruption it should help to shrink their support base.

It’s “Evangelical Monday”, which means that it’s time for another episode of “preachers for hire”.  This week’s millionaire, I mean minister, is Creflo Dollar.  That’s right, that’s his real last name, “Dollar”.  And, it’s fitting, because if anyone knows how to make a pile of dollars off of the gospel, it’s Creflo Dollar.

“Brother Creflo” is the pastor of the World Changers Church International in Atlanta, Georgia.  They have a frugal ministry that managed to scrape up a mere $18 million cash to pay for their humble church abode with plush carpeting and luxury seating.  Now that I think about it, a pastor named “dollar” with a church named “changers”, is an appropriate combination of names.  Brother Creflo takes people’s dollars and changes them into personal assets for himself.

Pastor Dollar, of course, has to try to keep up with “Brother Benny”, Hinn that is, which requires him to have the same kinds of gospel essentials.  You know, the basics, like a $5 million private jet and a Rolls Royce.  And, every respectable preacher needs at least two homes.  So, Creflo purchased himself a couple of million-dollar homes. 

Pastor Dollar is one of those preachers who justifies his lavish lifestyle by claiming that Jesus was also wealthy.  Yes, as you can see, Creflo doesn’t let biblical facts get in the way of his teaching.  There is something else interesting and unique about him.  Creflo doesn’t let people touch him once his church services have started.  Why?  He says it’s because he doesn’t want anyone stopping the “anointing” that is flowing from him so abundantly.  There’s certainly “something” abundantly flowing from him alright, but I’m pretty sure it’s not an anointing.  What’s flowing from Creflo Dollar stinks of greed, selfishness and financial abuse.  And, unfortunately, there are plenty more of “his kind” to talk about in future episodes of Evangelical Monday.  

There are approximately 1400 mega churches in America ranging in size from 1500 to 45,000 members.  And, these super churches cost from $10 million to $100 million each.  This week we’ll take a look at the biggest one; the one that has 45,000 members; the one that cost about $100 million.

Joel Osteen is probably the most famous minister in America, if not the entire world.  He has written a couple of best-selling books which sold millions of copies each, and he pastors the largest church in the nation, Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas.  Lakewood Church is not your ordinary hometown church, even by mega-church standards.

Lakewood Church conducts its services in a remodeled NBA arena.  Lakewood leased the former Compaq Center, which previously housed the NBA’s Houston Rockets, from the city of Houston for about $12 million for a 30-year lease.  That figure, however, was only “chump change”.  Upon leasing the arena, Lakewood then engaged in a $95 million renovation project which included a theatre style 16,000 seat sanctuary, while maintaining the NBA gymnasium and a skating rink.  They also have a “food court”, book and music stores etc.  You know, the necessities to equip a church to serve the Lord.

Lakewood resembles an entertainment complex more than a church.  Their music presentations have all of the Hollywood special effects, flashing lights, smoke etc.  They have hired an Elvis impersonator to entertain their members on several occasions.  And, their 85,000 square foot children’s ministry center was designed by former Disney artists.  Obviously Lakewood is striving to follow the WWJD model.

In 2006 Lakewood reported total revenues of about $88 million, while their expenses equaled $71 million.  Of course, Lakewood has its priorities straight.  They made sure to spend slightly more than one percent of their meager income on national and foreign missions.  Somehow they managed to set aside 1 of those 88 million to help people.  Good for them.  They want to make sure not to be selfish with the Lord’s money.  Some of their other expenses included $19 million for television airtime, over $3 million for their worship tour events, $1 and one-half million for children’s program costs, and more than $1 million for music expenses.  Helping people almost got as much money as their fancy, bright lights, smoke-generating music productions.  It’s certainly reassuring to know that they have their priorities in order.  And, they only spent nineteen times as much money to stay on television, so they can collect more money, as they did helping people.  I’m sure that Jesus must be real proud of their stewardship.

I hope by now you know that I have a tendency toward sarcasm.  Lakewood is about as far away from what Jesus would have done with that money as the east is from the west.  If Lakewood would have built a simpler, but still very nice, steel construction building, they could have saved enough money to save the lives of one million starving children.  So, Lakewood and Mr. Joel Osteen, what would Jesus have done?  Apparently Lakewood decided that they needed a more luxurious and entertaining church more that those one million children needed to live.

The state of things in America’s Evangelical, mega-church land sickens me.  And, I will continue to bring these abuses to light each week on “Evangelical Monday” in hopes of embarrassing Evangelicals into making the necessary reforms.