Actually this one is more about Christian crime than Catholic. The Vatican does come in for abuse. Some may be well founded. Most is not. Jews are keen on discrediting Holy Mother Church while eagerly concealing their own very extensive track record of corruption, political manipulation, murder, thieving, prostitution et cetera. You doubt? See links #36 or #37 which deal with rival outfits. Ditto for Political Criminals, Failed Messiah on Paedophiles and Cock Sucking Jews.
Crimen Sollicitationis
The procedures for dealing with sexual crime inside the Church do not read well.
The Great Catholic Cover-Up
A Jew puts the boot in. This is alleged crime as distinct from the real thing. The accuser is a Jew, one Christopher Hitchens.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_sexual_abuse_scandal_in_Europe
Catholic Order Had Paedophile Ring In Victoria - http://www.canberratimes.com.au/breaking-news-national/catholic-order-had-pedophile-ring-in-vic-20121109-292d9.html
Homosexual Abuse In The Vatican Post Vatican II
http://www.amazon.com/World-Christian-Encyclopedia-Comparative-Religions/dp/0195079639 dodgy source
http://christianheadlines.com/blog/2011/01/08/an-overview-of-religious-financial-fraud/#4
Homosexual abuse in the Vatican II Church ex Metapedia
An Overview of Religious Financial Fraud - Suffering from bad links circa October 2021
The $34 Billion Scandal
The January 2011 issue of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research reported that Christian religious leaders will commit an estimated $34 billion in financial fraud in 2011 while $31 billion will be spent on global missions. Researchers from the Center for the Study of Global Christianity estimate that Christian religious leaders will commit $90 million in financial crimes daily and the fraud is growing at a rate of 5.97% each year. If the researchers are correct, religious financial fraud among Christians will almost double in 14 years to $60 billion annually by 2025. 1Dr. David Barrett, the first editor of the World Christian Encyclopedia and a researcher for the Center, has been studying religious financial fraud for more than 20 years. According to Dr. Todd Johnson, the Center’s director, these statistics were the result of Barrett “developing a balance sheet for global Christianity.” Barrett was “trying to understand the totality of Christian finance.” 2
A Global Problem
Barrett and Johnson in the reference book “World Christian Trends” reported, “Probably 80% of all cases are kept private or swept under the carpet, but each year a rash of megathefts (over $1 million each) is uncovered and publicized in the secular media.” 3 Here is a small sample of religious financial scandals from around the world:Common Funding Sources of Religious Thieves
- Brazil: Bishop Edir Macedo, head of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, and 9 of his associates have been charged with embezzling more than $2 billion. [ TRUE ] 4
- Canada: Televangelists Ron and Reynold Mainse allegedly recruited investors in a Ponzi scheme. [ TRUE ] 5
- China: A whistleblower goes to jail for speaking out after donations for earthquake victims were stolen. 6
- Italy: Police confiscated 23 million Euros in a Vatican bank account as part of an investigation into money laundering. [ TRUE ] 7
- Ukraine: Pastor Sunday Adelaja charged with fraud in promoting a business venture to his congregation that lost $100 million. [ TRUE ] 8
- United Kingdom: Church treasurer Derek Klein embezzled funds to pay for a stamp collection. [ TRUE ] 9
- United States: Trent Huddleston, former senior accountant at Oral Roberts University, alleges that more than $1 billion was money laundered annually by members of the Oral Roberts University board. [ TRUE ] 10
Trinity Foundation Investigates the Televangelists
- The Offering Plate — In 2002 NBC Dateline aired an exposé on Benny Hinn. Mike Estrella, a former Benny Hinn Ministries employee responsible for counting the money given at Hinn’s crusades, said that he observed Gene Polino, Hinn’s CEO, embezzle thousands of dollars from the crusade collection buckets.11Wikipedia describes this practice as “skimming” which “refers to taking cash ‘off the top’ of the daily receipts of a business …” [ TRUE ] 12
This form of fraud is hard to detect but occasionally the skimmers are caught. A member of St. Ita Catholic Church’s finance committee marked a $100 bill before placing it in the offering plate. The bill disappeared before the church could deposit it in the bank. A priest later acknowledged taking the money. [ TRUE ] 13
- The Ministry Checking Account and Credit Card — Jason Reynolds, the finance director of National City Christian Church, used the church credit card to acquire a Lexus SUV and Land Rover. He also embezzled over $200,000 by writing himself checks. 14These forms of fraud can be reduced by requiring two signatures for checks and by insisting on lower credit limits for credit cards. [ TRUE ]
- Investments — In 1999 the Baptist Foundation of Arizona filed for bankruptcy after accumulating $530 million in liabilities. Dishonest administrators engaged in a cover-up to hide bad investments. William Crotts and his associates set up more than 90 dummy corporations to hide financial losses and used a Ponzi scheme to cover old investments. 15New Church Ventures was the largest dummy corporation formed by the BFA and held $173 million in debts. New Church Ventures had zero employees and provided no funds for building new churches even though that was its stated objective. [ TRUE ] 16
The Phoenix New Times investigated Jalma Hunsinger, the president of New Church Ventures, and reported on strange insider deals and flipped property fraud. The owner of the Simms Tower offered this $1.9 million building to the BFA for $1 as a tax write-off because the building was contaminated by asbestos. When the Foundation turned down the offer, Hunsinger acquired the building and used it as collateral for a BFA $6.8 million loan. [ TRUE ] 17
In 1987 filmmaker Harry Guetzlaff‘s production company was failing. Out of desperation he pledged money to televangelist Robert Tilton in hopes for a financial blessing. When Guetzlaff lost his home and approached Tilton’s organization for help, he was denied any assistance. Guetzlaff went to the Trinity Foundation and told his story to Ole Anthony, director of the Foundation. Anthony launched an investigation into Tilton’s direct mail operation and assisted the ABC News program PrimeTime Live on a TV exposé. [ TRUE ] 18The Trinity Foundation has investigated religious financial fraud for 23 years. Trinity investigators have gone through the trash of televangelists to obtain evidence, worked undercover inside ministry offices, assisted TV news programs and newspapers in developing investigative reports, and operated a phone line for victims of fraud (1-800-229-VICTIM).
While conducting these investigations the Trinity Foundation has redefined its mission. The Trinity board adopted a 4-point agenda for opposing religious financial fraud.
- Increase public awareness by continuing to provide information requested by various news media organizations and giving interviews when appropriate.
- Enable the establishment of civil case law regarding religious fraud.
- Enable the establishment of criminal case law regarding religious fraud.
- Work with government agencies toward establishing greater accountability for religious, non-profit organizations. [ TRUE ] 19
The IRS Dirty Dozen
The United States Internal Revenue Service posts an annual list of the most common forms of tax fraud they encounter called the “The Dirty Dozen.” In recent years the reports have singled out two specific forms of religious financial fraud.
- 2008: “IRS examiners are seeing an upturn in instances where taxpayers try to disguise private tuition payments as contributions to charitable or religious organizations.” 20
- 2005: “Participants apply for incorporation under the pretext of being a “bishop” or “overseer” of a one-person, phony religious organization or society with the idea that this entitles the individual to exemption from federal income taxes as a nonprofit, religious organization. When used as intended, Corporation Sole statutes enable religious leaders to separate themselves legally from the control and ownership of church assets. But the rules have been twisted at seminars where taxpayers are charged fees of $1,000 or more and incorrectly told that Corporation Sole laws provide a “legal” way to escape paying federal income taxes, child support and other personal debts.” 21
Common Forms Of Religious Financial Fraud
Churches Operating As Tax SheltersThe 2004 Internal Revenue Manual of the IRS noted that some churches are being used fraudulently to avoid taxes:
“While desiring to protect churches from undue interference by the IRS, Congress, in enacting IRC § 7611, recognized that an increasing number of taxpayers had used the church form primarily as a tax-avoidance device.” 22
Realtor and banker George Michael of Lake Bluff, Illinois, claimed that he converted his 15,000 square foot lakefront mansion worth $3 million into a church so that his disabled wife would have a place to worship. Michael’s neighbors and local government officials claim the home was not a church and that Michael was attempting to avoid paying more than $70,000 in property taxes. After the Illinois Department of Revenue granted a religious tax exemption, local officials went to court to have the tax exemption removed and won in court on July 6, 2009. 23
Conversion and Self DealingThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, “IRS rules do not bar transactions between a nonprofit group and a business that is owned or controlled by the same person, a practice known as self-dealing.” 24 Self dealing is one of the key methods that fraudulent nonprofit executives use to enrich themselves. Here’s an example of how it works:
A televangelist owns a for-profit company that publishes all of his books and DVDs. Then he sells the books and DVDs at full retail price to his nonprofit rather than at a discount or wholesale price. A televangelist can use this technique to excessively profit from his nonprofit organization.
Pastors Mike and Elaine Millé of White Dove Fellowship in Harvey, Louisiana, purchased property costing $850,000 in August 2007 and sold the property to their church about 90 days later for $1,229,112 for a profit of $379,112. This transaction is not just an example of self dealing, it is also flipped property fraud. After learning of the transaction, the Trinity asked the IRS to investigate the Millés and White Dove Fellowship. 25
Excessive CompensationNonprofit organizations in the United States can lose their tax-exempt status and be required to pay excise taxes if employees receive excessive compensation. Yet this rarely happens. When the Charlotte Observer investigated compensation for charity executives, it reported, “Most years, fewer than 10 of the nearly two million U.S. nonprofit leaders are penalized for receiving excessive compensation.” The newspaper also noted that there is “roughly one enforcement agent for every 4,000 tax-exempt groups nationally” so very few nonprofit organizations get audited. 26
The Charlotte Observer reported that televangelist David Cerullo of The Inspiration network “was paid nearly 1.7 million” in 2008. However, the newspaper left out that Cerullo received $331,881 in nontaxable benefits that year. 27
Cerullo has the highest compensation of any religious broadcaster in the United States that files 990 forms with the IRS. Churches are exempt from filing so some megachurch pastors and televangelists are refusing to make their compensation public. Kenneth Copeland doesn’t disclose his income but has bragged that he is a billionaire. 28
In 1921 the United States federal government established a tax exemption for ministerial housing expenses to help poor congregations provide housing to clergy. 29
This exemption is now being abused to provide religious leaders with large tax-exempt housing benefits. When Crystal Cathedral filed for bankruptcy, its financial records revealed “$832,490 in tax-exempt housing allowances given to eight people …” 30
WFAA reported that Ed Young of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas, “was paid $240,000 a year as a parsonage allowance; that’s in addition what sources say is a $1 million yearly pastor’s salary. 31
A lawsuit filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation could result in this housing allowance being ruled unconstitutional in 2011. 32
Insurance FraudThe Coalition Against Insurance Fraud produces a Hall of Shame list each year to bring attention to insurance fraud. Pastor Gerald Rayborn was featured on the 2004 list for burning down his church for $800,000. 33
Dennis Jay, the Coalition’s director, reported in Claims Journal that “Rev. Roland Gray helped stage nearly 200 car crashes plus phony slip-and-fall injuries in restaurants and hotels. He recruited parishioners and even his brother, who also was a minister.” 34
After obtaining seven life insurance policies for a blind man, pastor Kevin Pushia hired a hitman for $50,000. Pushia plead guilty. 35
Fraud Among Nonchristian Religious GroupsRabbi Saul Kassin, head of America’s largest Sephardic synagogue, was arrested in 2009 with four other rabbis for money laundering almost $3 million. 36
Salman Ibrahim established credibility among Chicago Muslims through his involvement in the Shariah Board of America. Ibrahim formed Sunrise Equities Inc., as an Islamic investment company, and paid dividends rather than interest which is prohibit by the Koran. Investors lost $30 million when Ibrahim disappeared from the United States. 37
Religious con artists have been effective at targeting Mormons, costing their victims $1.4 billion. 38
Atheists aren’t exempt from religious financial fraud. William Murray, son of America’s most famous atheist, Madalyn Murray O’Hair, claims his mother embezzled millions of dollars from American Atheists. A former employee of American Atheists supported Murray’s claims by revealing on the TV program City Confidential that he was told what foreign bank O’Hair had deposited $18 million. David Roland Waters, another employee of American Atheists, embezzled $54,000 and murdered Madalyn Murray O’Hair after she disclosed the theft of funds.39
Endnotes
1 Todd M. Johnson, David B. Barrett, and Peter F. Crossing, “Status of Global Mission, 2010, in Context of 20th and 21st Centuries”, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 35, No.1, page 29, January 2011
2 Interview of Todd M. Johnson in June 2008
3 David B. Barrett and Todd M. Johnson, World Christian Trends, page 660, 2001
4 “Brazil evangelical leader accused of fraud: Church founder allegedly siphoned off billions to buy jewelry, businesses”, AP, August 12, 2010 link
5 Bene Diction, “Ron Mainse of 100 Huntley Street makes statement on alleged Ponzi scheme”, Bene Diction Blogs On, September 15, 2009, link
6 “Government Approved Church Leaders Withhold Donated Quake Funds; Whistleblower Christian Sentenced”, China Aid / Christian Newswire, July 30, 2009, link
7 Nicole Winfield, “Italian police seize $30M from Vatican in probe”, AP, September 21, 2010, link
8 Adrienne S. Gaines, “Sunday Adelaja Accused of Supporting Investment Scheme”, Charisma, December 19, 2008, link
9 Aidan Mcgurran, “Church fraudster told to sell off stamp collection on web to pay back victims”, London Mirror, April 19, 2008, link
10 April Marciszewski, “More than $1 billion annually was funneled through ORU, lawsuit claims”, Tulsa World, February 7, 2008, link
11 “Benny Hinn has millions of believers and millions in donations”, NBC Dateline, December 27, 2002, link
12 “Skimming (fraud)”, Wikipedia, link
13 “Priest indicted in Edgewater church theft” , Chicago Tribune, August 9, 2008, link
14 Del Quentin Wilber, “Former church finance director charged in theft scheme”, Washington Post, December 30, 2009, link
15 “Baptist Foundation of Arizona” Wikipedia, link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptist_Foundation_of_Arizona
16 Lawrence C. Mohrweis, “Lessons from the Baptist Foundation Fraud” The CPA Journal link
17 Terry Greene Sterling, “A Shaky Foundation: For the Baptist Foundation of Arizona–and its baffling insider real-estate deals–the devil’s in the details”, Phoenix New Times, April 23, 1998, link
18 Burkhard Bilger, “God doesn’t need Ole Anthony”, The New Yorker, December 6, 2004, link
19 Interview of Trinity Foundation member Pete Evans
20 Phishing Scams, “Frivolous Arguments Top the 2008 ‘Dirty Dozen’ Tax Scams”, IRS, March 13, 2008, link
21 “IRS Announces the 2005 Dirty Dozen”, IRS, February, 28, 2005, link
22 “Internal Revenue Manual – 4.76.7 Church Tax Inquiries and Examinations IRC § 7611″, IRS, June 1, 2004 (note: this section was re-written in 2010), link
23 Linda Blaser, “Judge Removes Religious Tax Exemption From Shore Acres Drive Home”, Pioneer Local, July 23, 2009, link
24 Ernie Suggs, “King son’s firm paid $1.3 million by center”, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, page A1, Date: May 20, 2005
25 Lee Zurkik, “Criminal investigation into West Bank televangelist?”, WVUE, November 17, 2010 link
26 Ames Alexander, “For too many nonprofits, charity starts at the top”, Charlotte Observer, December 20, 2009 link
27 The Inspirational Network Inc 2008 – 990, pages 7, 24 (available at guidestar.org)
28 “Kenneth Copeland is a billionaire”, Google Video, link (video from KCM Ministers’ Conference, January 23, 2008)
29 Robert Marus, “House approves bill to protect minister-housing allowances”, Associated Baptist Press, April, 19, 2002, link
30 Abby Sewell and Nicole Santa Cruz, “Bankruptcy filings show generous pay for relatives of Crystal Cathedral founder”, Los Angeles Times, December 3, 2010 link
31 Brett Shipp, “Prominent Grapevine pastor linked to luxury”, WFAA, February 4, 2010, link
32 Stephanie Samuel, Church Legal Expert: Minister Housing Tax Break Under Attack”, Christian Post, December 29, 2010, link
33 Merritt Melancon, “Two plead guilty in 2005 church torching”, Athens Banner-Herald, June 15, 2010, link
34 Dennis Jay, “Fraud in the Church Takes Heavy Toll on Congregation, Insurers”, Claims Journal, August 23, 2010, link
35 “Pastor admits to scam and conspiring to kill blind man”, Scripps Media, August 28, 2010, link
36 Paul Vitello, “Syrian Sephardic Communities Shaken by Charges Against a Leading Rabbi”, New York Times, ,July 23, 2009 link
37 Michael Tarm, “Prosecutors: $30M Ponzi scheme targeted Muslims”, Associated Press, November 18, 2010 link
38 John L. Smith, “How affinity fraud’ hurts LDS church members”, Mormon Times, September 14, 2010 link
39 “Madalyn Murray O’Hair”, Wikipedia, link
An Overview of Religious Financial Fraud – Signposts 02 [ live 2021-10-21 ]
19 Comments
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Adelaja Nigerian
http://www.stampcollectingroundup.blogspot.co.uk/2009_02_01_archive.html Klein convicted
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-02-07-871510563_x.htm oral roberts allegation only
http://www.rickross.com/reference/hinn/hinn21.html benny hinn
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2008-08-09/news/0808080510_1_priest-church-money-laundering St Ita
http://www.justice.gov/usao/dc/news/2011/aug/11-358.pdf Jason Reynolds
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptist_Foundation_of_Arizona
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptist_Foundation_of_Arizona
http://www.rickross.com/reference/trinity/trinity1.html
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Trinity_Foundation strayed?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Popoff caught by trinity
http://www.dallasobserver.com/2006-08-03/news/the-cult-of-ole/ trinity done good but.....
UN Report Demands Church Action Against Paedophile Priests [ 6 February 2014 ]
The United Nations makes it demands but has nothing to say about the Jews Who Rape Children In Bathhouses. This evil is happening now. The ultra-orthodox Jew are run by Rapist Rabbis & Satmar Sodomites. Around half of the boys in Brooklyn's nest of Jews have been buggered says Nuchem Rosenberg, a rabbi. Normally they get away with it because of Mesirah, which is what the Mafia call Omerta, their code of silence. Of course the Main Stream Media do not say much about this because they are controlled by Jews.
PS This BBC report does not mention that they protected Jimmy Savile when they KNEW he was a Paedophile. They covered up for Cyril Smith too.
547 Boys Abused At German Catholic Choir School [ 19 July 2017 ]
QUOTE
At least 547 boys at a German Catholic choir school suffered sexual or physical abuse in what victims have likened to 'prison, hell or a concentration camp', said an investigator releasing a final report Tuesday.The Regensburger Domspatzen ('Cathedral Sparrows' in English), a 1,000-year-old cathedral choir in Bavaria, was in 2010 dragged into the massive sexual abuse scandal plaguing the Catholic Church in recent years.
Many victims remembered their time in the choir school as 'the worst time of their lives, marked by fear, violence and helplessness', said lawyer Ulrich Weber, who was commissioned by the diocese to look into the cases............
This more than doubled the 231 reported abuse cases he had uncovered through interviews by January 2016, when he said victims had spoken of rape, sexual assaults, severe beatings and food deprivation.....................
The German scandal is one of several to have rocked the Catholic Church in recent years, notably in Ireland where one priest admitted sexually abusing more than 100 children.
UNQUOTE
This is not good, whether it be true or false. Holy Mother Church has erred and the Main Stream Media have been there like flies on the proverbial, because they are part of the Culture War being waged against us. The media are tools of the Invisible Enemy, the Puppet Masters, which means Zionist crazies and their Useful Idiots. The media keep very quiet about Paedophile Jews; there are thousands of them. That is why most Jew boys get buggered; so said Nuchem Rosenberg, an honest rabbi , who was interviewed by Vice. He suffered consequences such as murder threats. See Jews Rape Children In Bathhouses.
Catholic Church Appoints Pakistani Prosecutor To Act Against Paedophile Abuse [ 16 May 2021 ]
QUOTE
The Muslim former prosecutor who led the crackdown on Rochdale's grooming gangs is to head the Catholic Church's drive to stamp out child abuse scandals, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. The appointment of Nazir Afzal as the first chairman of the new Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency will be announced on Tuesday.Mr Afzal won plaudits a decade ago for overturning a Crown Prosecution Service decision and pursuing a gang of British Pakistani criminals involved in the rape and trafficking of 47 girls, resulting in 19 convictions.
Birmingham-born Mr Afzal later criticised the white professionals in the CPS for 'over-sensitivity', asserting that 'political correctness and fear of appearing racist may have contributed to justice being stalled'. His appointment comes amid wide-ranging reforms to safeguarding in the Catholic Church after a review by child protection specialist Ian Elliott.
This followed severe criticism of child safety lapses in the Church by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, described the appointment as a 'pivotal moment'.
Mr Afzal said: 'The Catholic Church has recognised the failures of the past and the need to put things right. This is what attracted me to the role.'
Stephen Ashley, a former assistant chief constable, will be deputy chairman of the new agency. He is the author of a Home Office report on police conduct during investigations into sex offences by Jimmy Savile.
UNQUOTE
This could be very good news. Mr Afzal has a track record of beating a CPS failure and prosecuting Pakistani Perverts. They can't accuse him of being a Racist. The Tories will have to pretend they are not annoyed by this threat to Capitalist Swine who want cheap labour. Ditto for the Labour Party who need Pakistanis to run their Vote Rigging System. The Mail is censoring comments again; it is nervous about real people and the truth.
Could you please correct footnote #1 regarding Barrett and Johnson’s statistics about fraud? I went to the source you cited and I can find NOTHING related to this issue.
That is a great post, shame on the people who are involved in these activities
Thank you for your article and bringing these fraudulent behavior to light so that saints who have been brainwashed can really get a better understanding that Religious and spirituality is for sale. Even though Jesus died on the cross and paid in full for our sin:
Many of these preacher misinterpret the word tithes and they only use particular scripture to manipulate the desperate in giving into a false hope.
The bible did not focus on money and minister getting rich, but to follow Christ. If we are followers of Christ why do we who are followers of Christ need to oppress the poor to furnish the lavish lifestyle?
Also ” beggars are a burden in the kingdom of God.
Some of These beggar have become bully in the pulpits.
And have use their intimidating tactic to force people, like the “woman” and many other saints in Chicago that we have dedicated our Facebook page ” saintagainstchurchbullies” to bring awareness that this ongoing issues
These pastor and their “enforcers/”lieutenants use harassed, intimidations, through physical and verbal abuse to run these saint out of and locked them out of the church because they asked for a TAX -EXEMPT Letter of the record showing the cash offering that was given for two years: this caused retaliation because this woman asked for a copy of her cash donations and that makes the pastor of that church nervous and make him resort to bullying the woman and other members who dare to ask for copy of the tax-exempt record.
While I’m not going to run around screaming “the sky is falling!”, I do think that there is quite a bit of fraud going on within non-profit organizations. Churches and charities should begin to consider practicing professional accounting, maybe even look to a third, disinterested party to examine their finance reports. While a church isn’t (or shouldn’t) be out for profit, leaders would do well to adopt a few business management principles in order to maintain financial integrity. I greatly admire theology schools that are integrating business classes into their degree coursework, as too often church employees are hazy about the legal handling of finances. Without proper training, a church is an easy target for “affinity fraud,” and can fall prey to an outside scammer or even one of their own members.
To be sure, this is an affront to the Name of Jesus Christ and is a stumbling block for those who need to enter into the Kingdom of God!
BUT…..
This article has the same flavor of secular newspaper articles to with:
1) If 30 billion were pilfered in 2010, one would think that one wouldn’t need examples of 1999, 2002, 2004 etc.
2) If one says “PROBABLY 80% of all cases are kept private or swept under the carpet”, one could also say “PROBABLY, the reporter is 75% wrong on his 80% estimate and one could subtract 18 BILLION off the top of his guessed amount of 31 billion. Unless, of course, he was PROBABLY wrong it is MAYBE not as much as one MAY think and PERHAPS his ESTIMATES were more on the PERSONAL opinion?
3) “The IRS Dirty Dozen
The United States Internal Revenue Service posts an annual list of the most common forms of tax fraud they encounter called the “The Dirty Dozen.” In recent years the reports have singled out two specific forms of religious financial fraud.” and your subsequent IRS statements of 2008 and 2005.
- – - – - – - – - – -
a) The ‘Dirty Dozen” were never found to be guilty of anything
b) IRS statements of 2005 and 2008 have nothing to do with the IRS attempts.
c) This happened during a highly politicized era and these dozen are powerhouses that are influencing peoples votes that would bring sanity back to the Congress
d) the Senate was VIOLATING IRS laws in attempting to discredit these people (remember that the world didn’t like Jesus either and said he had a demon”
FINALLY,
This has a flavor of trying to sell newspapers which is what the world does. Just as much as I hate when Christians act like the world in stealing God’s money (and He will judge it) – I hate it when article writers act like the world too.
Sincerely,
Act Like the Light if You are in the Light