The American baseball legend, Yogi Berra, once said, “This is like déjà vu all over again.” That is exactly how I felt when I read U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley’s original letter to Kenneth and Gloria Copeland on behalf of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee (SFC), dated November 5, 2007.
As I explained in my article Senator Grassley’s Crusade of Honor, I took the time to investigate the SFC investigation. Like many Christians I was at first alarmed by the U.S. Federal government probing into religious organizations. However, once I discovered that the SFC had been investigating non-profit organizations for over seven years before turning their focus on the Six Televangelists (Kenneth and Gloria Copeland’s ministry being one of them) my concerns subsided somewhat.
On the other hand, when I then took the time to read Sen. Grassley’s letter to the Copelands specifically, I actually became more alarmed about my own challenges concerning Kenneth Copeland’s broken Angel Flight 44 promises. On page 5 under line item number 14, the senator had the following issue to address with them:
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14. KCM solicited donations through brochures to ministry partners to build “The Revival Capital of the World.” This project was to include ministry facilities, a headquarters, a resort hotel, a radio and television center, a kingdom park and a retirement community called Wisdom Heights. What is the current building status of “The Revival Capital of the World?” What is the status of the donations given for this project? Are the funds being held apart from other ministry donations? Have donors been given an update or status report for the ministry project? Is there a relationship between “The Revival Capital of the World” and the land currently being used for El Rancho Fe a/k/a Copeland Cattle Company? (Note: Some text bolded for emphasis)
You can download a scanned copy of the entire letter directly from Senator Grassley’s website by clicking here, or an OCR-processed copy (i.e. one that you can copy and paste from) via KennethCopelandBlog.com by clicking on the Adobe PDF image below (English only) :
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Note: Adobe’s freeAcrobat Reader 9.0 or higher is recommended to view the above PDF .
. . I have probed deeper into the above “Revival Capital of the World” project myself, and was shocked how similar this twenty-five-year-old unfulfilled promise is to our own four-year-old unfulfilled Angel Flight 44 promises. Let me break this down further so you can see what concerns me so much… . .
Of Buildings and Broken Promises:
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A major building program was launched back in the mid-1980s to develop the Eagle Mountain property where Kenneth Copeland Ministries and Eagle Mountain International Church now sit. Using brochures and other marketing efforts to raise donations from their partners, KCM pledged to build numerous types of special-use buildings on the property with the funds raised:
KCM’s “Headquarters” where ministry offices are now located.
Other “ministry facilities” which includes the original chapel of KCM in which the church was begun.
A “radio and television center” where KCM now produces their broadcasts.
A “resort hotel” where, allegedly, people could stay when attending events and touring the…
“Kingdom park” theme park, which was to include Disney-like Autonomatronic robots of famous preachers such as Martin Luther and Smith Wigglesworth.
And the “Wisdom Heights” retirement community, where senior citizens could live right on the grounds of KCM.
Of the six projects above, can you guess which three were completed? Yes, the top three exist today. I remember touring the grounds of KCM the first time in 2002 with my wife when we attended our first KCM Minister’s Conference. The sweet staff member who escorted us kept mentioning the “miracles” related to the construction of the buildings—most especially how they were all built “debt free.”
On the other hand, can you guess which of the six have NOT been completed…after about twenty-five years…and after millions spent on aircraft and other KCM projects? Yes, the last three. Not only has KCM not even broken ground on these three projects, but these projects “mysteriously disappeared” from all KCM literature, publications, and broadcasts…and were never mentioned publicly again (until Sen. Grassley’s letter, of course). It is as if those promises had never been made, and as if nobody had contributed towards the “Revival Capital of the World” overall development with those last three projects in mind. (Is this beginning to sound familiar yet?) However, this advertised project of KCM did exist (e.g. the senator would not have brought it up publicly if he did not have sufficient evidence to ask the question) and the pledges were in fact made—but have never been acted upon as promised.
Can you guess which of the six projects above had the most people excited to contribute to that overall project? Yes, the last three unfulfilled projects would naturally stir emotions the most and would create the most enthusiasm for donor contributions. Though some might want to argue this fact with me, I think most people reading this article would agree that the last three projects would have caught their eye quicker than the first three.
Bless her heart, it is apparent that the sweet KCM staff member who showed my wife and I around on the grounds of KCM back in 2002 had no idea that the “paid for” buildings were probably funded with broken promises.
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Of Retirees and Trust:
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In my investigation of the “Wisdom Heights” portion of Copeland’s unfulfilled “Revival Capital of the World” projects, I talked with one investigator of this fiasco who has in his possession a canceled check made out to KCM for $1,000 towards that project. In January 2010 dollars, that check is equivalent to about $5,000 today when you use real inflationary figures. The person who wrote the check is a now very-senior citizen, who was looking forward to living in the Wisdom Heights retirement community.
How do you think that person feels, having had their checkcashed by KCM—but their hopescrushed? How do you think that person feels when this is done without ANY explanation from KCM to those who donated money?
Probably a bit like I do regarding Copeland’s unfulfilled Angel Flight 44 promises. My name was attached to the book that detailed his commitments, and I invested about $30,000 worth of my own writing time and ability towards that book in hopes of helping KCM do something wonderful for hurting disaster victims. Thus, I am more than a little interested in getting some answers out of KCM just like that senior citizen above wants to know what happened to their retirement condo.
Unfulfilled promises look awfully similar to outright lies and fraud. It is time Kenneth Copeland and KCM cleared these matters up…or repent, whichever is applicable.
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KCM’s Response to Senator Grassley’s Inquiry:
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KCM responded in a written public document to Senator Grassley’s questions. In the interest of providing a full and fair treatment of this subject, I am posting their reply also. Here is their direct response to this particular question about the “Revival Capital of the World” below: .
The Church explained to Senator Grassley that it named the property purchased from the Estate of Paul H. Pewitt (i.e., the location of its current principal campus in Newark, Texas) the “Revival Capital of the World” and encouraged donors to support the improvement of that property for various church-related uses. The property currently has, among other things, a sanctuary and worship center, a chapel, a parsonage, class rooms, administrative offices, a prayer call center, and media development services facilities. These Church facilities have been built not only from donations received from donors during the “Revival Capital of the World” campaign, but also in subsequent years. The Church has since ceased referring to the Church’s Newark, Texas campus as the “Revival Capital of the World” and has abandoned plans to build certain facilities such as a kingdom park; however, the facilities that have been constructed on the Newark campus are consistent with the original vision for the “Revival Capital of the World”; moreover, the funds expended to purchase the land for, and to build the Church’s current campus, far exceed donations received in response to the “Revival Capital of the World” campaign. Accordingly, any donations given for this project were long ago fully expended for the purposes for which they were given, and to the extent such donations were insufficient to pay for all of the Church land and facilities described above, other donations have been used to make up the shortfall.
The Church further explained that Church members and donors are informed on a periodic basis regarding improvements to the Church’s Newark campus, as well as regarding other ministry activities, through membership newsletters, Internet updates, media presentations, Church events, and other literature. The Church also clarified for Senator Grassley that there is no relationship between the “Revival Campaign of the World” campaign and El Rancho Fe or Copeland Cattle Company. (page 14, text bolded for emphasis)
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Well, the explanation given by KCM’s lawyers on behalf of its leaders does NOTfully answer the senator’s questions—though at least it is something. (It is my understanding that many of the donors had never even received that much of an answer prior to the SFC investigation making this issue worldwide news…despite KCM’s inference otherwise above.) Moreover, there is still the unanswered question of, “Why did they abandon those additional projects?”
Quite frankly, I do NOT believe them when they claim (indirectly) that the donors were informed (and I will explain why further below). The fact that partners, church members, and donors, are all aware that there is NOT a theme park, resort hotel, and retirement community, on the grounds of KCM does not mean that those who donated for such projects were properly informed of the abandonment of those projects—and KCM’s reasons for doing so. Furthermore, the fact that current church members, KCM partners, & etc., are informed of new building programs does not mean they ever received an explanation for those abandoned ones of the past.
Nevertheless, you can download the entire KCM response here and compare their answers to the senator’s questions:
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In Short:
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Though KCM has tried to paint a nice face on what appears to be an ugly deception, there are amazing similarities between KCM’s unfulfilled commitments of 25-years ago and their unfulfilled commitments of the last four years with regard to Angel Flight 44:
Both situations contained grand promises, but comparatively much less fulfillment (and absolutely NO fulfillment with regard to AF44).
Both projects brought in donations from excited contributors.
Both projects were seemingly abandoned quietly without explanation.
Funds from both projects seemed to be directed towards what was important to the Copelands, rather than what was important to the donors (or for that matter, even for what was important to disaster victims with regards to his failed AF44 commitments).
I am personally quite sure that the earthquake victims in Haiti right now do not want a form letter from KCM’s legal department that says merely, “Our partners know the state of Angel Flight 44.” (i.e. That AF44 simply does not exist.) I think the Haitians would rather have had airplanes loaded down with food, water and medical supplies landing on both “land and water” as Copeland had pledged.
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I Hope I Am Wrong, But…
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I surely do HOPE that there is a good explanation for all of this. I really would love to be proven wrong by newly uncovered facts so that I can change KennethCopelandBlog.com to reflect those new pieces of information and bring these sinister looking situations into a much more positive light.
Nevertheless, after nearly three years of trying to get answers out of the Copelands, I am not overly optimistic that any such redeeming facts will surface and come to light. In fact, their stubborn refusal in both my private and public efforts to confront this situation to date leads me to believe that I am unfortunately VERY right in my conclusions that extensive deception and probable fraud have occurred. This is especially true in view of what Jesus said:
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For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.
If they were truly being honest, shouldn’t they have answered my own private inquiries before? They did not, and given the evidence I have presented here on KennethCopelandBlog.com, it should be obvious to most people why I simply do NOT consider the Copelands honest anymore. As a former partner with KCM for about seventeen years, I once thought they were one of the most honorable ministries around. After having personal exposure to them regarding this Angel Flight 44 fiasco, however, my former opinion about their integrity has been radically altered to the negative.
Let me point out again in the light of what Senator Grassley wrote above, how KCM replied, and all I have written herein and on this website: Kenneth Copeland Ministries is NOT open about their finances to any third-party accountability group. such as the Evangelical Counsel for Financial Accountability or Ministrywatch.com. Though KCM now makes pseudo-efforts to try and appear to their partners that they are being accountable, those efforts actually HIDE the information that truly indicates how faithful KCM is with donor funds (e.g. executive salaries, financial arrangements between for-profit entities and KCM, and etc.).
KCM may make statements that everything is “honest and above board” when pushed to do so by a senator (or maybe even by KennethCopelandBlog.com), but there is no way of confirming their claims unless they will seek to become accountable to third-party groups as Joyce Meyer’s ministry recently did.
Such utter lack of transparency does NOT follow the standard biblical protocol for financial accountability, as our next article will explore.
Reverend Hagin’s Previous Rebuke of Kenneth Copeland
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Rich’s Note: This particular post is by far the most popular post on KennethCopelandBlog.com. Consequently, let me please point out that there is additional important information contained in the new FAQ page of this blog that relates (either directly or indirectly) to this very same topic. Thus, I encourage you to review that FAQ data also, as well as the several other informative pages which you can find listed on the Table of Contents page.
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Many people have enjoyed the teaching of the Word of Faith message through the years, while many others have been quite critical of that message. Some have actually been hurt or traumatized by professing “Word of Faith ministers” who pushed their doctrines to self-serving extremes (and unfortunately, some of these false-ministers are so-called “leaders” within the movement). Meanwhile, many other believers have found sound principles within balanced teaching of faith as taught by some of God’s honest ministers, applied it to their own situations—and have experienced tremendous blessing and victory as a result.Regardless of the type of exposure, however, most people at least familiar with the “Word of Faith message” are also quite familiar with the fact that the late Rev. Kenneth E. Hagin is considered the proverbial “father” of the movement. However…
Few seem to be aware of the fact that Brother Hagin (aka, “Dad Hagin”) had convened a special meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma on the campus of RHEMA Bible Training Center, circa the Fall of 1999. The topic: Excesses and error present within the “prosperity” message being taught by the major Word of Faith ministries.
My own former senior pastor was one of those in attendance. The first Sunday following that special meeting, he detailed publicly to the entire congregation (in both services) what had occurred. I was present to hear those details (in both services) since I was one of the Associate Pastors on staff there (in addition to hearing this same information privately as well). Thus my recollection of these events is confirmed by the memories of my fellow ministers and the many Christians who heard these same facts.
Among those whom the pastor reported to have been in attendance at that meeting were:
Kenneth Copeland
Creflo Dollar
Jerry Savelle
Jesse Duplantis
Mac Hammond
and Steve Parson (my former senior pastor)
Also summoned to the meeting was the “money cometh” preacher himself, Dr. Leroy Thompson. He refused to attend, however. Steve Parson explained to us that Mac Hammond reported to the group in attendance that he had previously called Leroy Thompson to find out why he was refusing to attend. “God told me not to come,” he replied. “That’s funny,” reportedly answered Mac, “God told me to call you and tell you to come. So one of us is missing it.”
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Wisdom Speaks
When those who had agreed to attend were present in the room, Brother Hagin explained (and I paraphrase), “I called you all together to this special meeting because I need to address some error and excess in within the Word of Faith ‘camp’ regarding the prosperity message. I have written a book entitled, The Midas Touch: A Balanced Approach to Biblical Prosperity, and it will be coming out very soon. In order to avoid strife and confusion among our ranks, however, I wanted to convene this meeting and address these issues with you—the major Word of Faith ministries teaching this doctrine—in person first. That way, you all can adjust your messages accordingly before the book comes out, and there will be no contention among us.”
Reportedly, Kenneth Copeland then responded before the group, “If I am in error in any way, please feel free to correct me.” However, as we will soon learn, Copeland’s profession before the group to his own personal mentor and one of his “fathers in the faith” (along with Oral Roberts) would seem to have failed to manifest in full.
Unfortunately, Copeland’s own protégé (i.e. Creflo Dollar) seemed to do a better job than Copeland in following is own mentor’s lead. He has apparently followed Copeland back into the same errors previously addressed by Brother Hagin—rather than the sound and seasoned counsel given by the senior leader of the Word of Faith movement.
Regardless, Brother Hagin did share with those ministers that day his biblical counsel. Further, he gave them all advanced copies of the paperback edition of the book, which was subsequently released in 2000. In 2002 the hardback edition of The Midas Touch came out on the market, and is now the only version available “new” at the time of this writing.
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The Midas Touch: A Balanced Approach to Biblical Prosperity, by Rev. Kenneth E. Hagin
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So what did Brother Hagin have to say to them in that meeting? Well, exactly what was written within that very book that they were all given. Consequently, we will examine in the next video the details of what that book clearly articulates—which are the same corrections ministered that day by Rev. Hagin to those ministers present:
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Google Video (English only):
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Prosperity Balance (But Other Imbalances)
Having now watched the above video—and learning therein what types of issues Kenneth E. Hagin thought were necessary to be corrected among Word of Faith “prosperity” teachers—you can better understand the fact that Brother Hagin sought a significantly more “balanced” approach to the topic than that for which many have given him due credit through the years. Nevertheless…
The fact that Kenneth E. Hagin sought a more balanced approach to the topic of “prosperity” and other topics, does not mean that he was perfectly biblical in all his teachings or beliefs.
Reverend Mel C. Montgomery as written one of the best online summaries I have ever read concerning Brother Hagin’s more controversial doctrines in an article entitled, J.R. Goodwin and Kenneth Hagin Sr. (PDF, which was originally an article entitled, Kenneth Hagin’s Two Faith Messages). Therein, Rev. Montgomery also advocates a return to biblical orthodoxy within faith-teaching by returning to what he calls “Reformed Word of Faith” teaching. He also clearly articulates why he rejects the more bizarre doctrines that Hagin picked up later in his ministry from E. W. Kenyon (and which were subsequently widely propagated by Copeland and others). I highly recommend that anyone interested in this topic—whether they be an advocate or critic of Hagin’s teachings, or someone merely curious about the same—because Brother Montgomery has done a marvelous service to the Body of Christ in documenting and highlighting these issues in such a well-written, balanced, and fair article.
For my own perspective on the late Brother Hagin and his teaching: I have been very blessed by many of his testimonies and biblical insights, but other teachings have proven to be problematic. Beyond the concerns mentioned above in the preceding paragraph, I am also concerned by the unbalanced way in which Hagin taught the “love” message from Scripture (e.g. failing to adequately explain when severe confrontation of others might be necessary to fully walk in love—both towards those in error and also toward those they affect). Though his “love walk” is often touted as one of Hagin’s “strengths” by his most ardent defenders, he was actually quite erroneous with regard to his understanding and application of some biblical aspects of true agape love. This imbalance of Hagin’s regarding agape love has also been further distorted from biblical truth (and widely propagated) by Copeland and others, who use these distorted teachings as “convenient doctrines” to protect themselves from scrutiny, rebuke, and censure.
Hagin also often failed to correct OBVIOUSLY sinful and errant behavior within his own family, the RHEMA organization, and Word of Faith/RHEMA ministerial circles in general (e.g. adultery, unbiblical divorce, etc). Of course, this shortcoming seems to be related to the aforementioned error in his comprehension of agape love. In his later years it seems that Brother Hagin often failed to hold other Christians (and especially his own family) accountable to a biblical standard of conduct. Thus, it is the well-founded conclusion of many that these personal and ministerial failures of Kenneth E. Hagin have caused great harm to the Body of Christ—and have severely damaged the legacy of his own ministry as well.
Nevertheless, these issues would have to be expounded in greater detail separately in order for me to do these topics fair justice. However, I believe it is sufficient for me to state here that although I am honoring the memory of Kenneth E. Hagin for his courage and integrity in correcting the so-called “prosperity” teachers for their obvious self-centered doctrinal errors and sin, I am certainly NOT hereby endorsing ALL of Brother Hagin’s teachings categorically.
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Hagin’s Consistency Concerning Financial Issues
Charisma Magazine also wrote about this special meeting called by Brother Hagin, and his Midas Touch book. In a previous blog post entitled Kenneth Hagin’s Forgotten Warning, Phillip and Esther Walters of the Back Yard Believers blog has replicated that entire article written by J. Lee Grady. This particular article provides you a “second witness” of the facts that I have already presented within the text above and the videos from a respected Charasmatic media source.
Never put money first! The first time the Lord appeared to me, He told me, “Be careful about money. Many upon whom I’ve placed my Spirit and called to the ministry have become money-minded, and have lost the anointing.” We don’t want to become money-minded and lose the anointing of God on our lives! (page 13, emphasis added)
Consider also the following additional quote from The Midas Touch beyond those I already read to you verbally within the previous video:
During my more than sixty-five years of ministry, I have often dealt with the issue of prosperity for believers, insistently emphasizing a balanced, scriptural approach. I have observed many teachings and practices that have both helped and hindered the Body of Christ. I have seen some faith men of God stay the course, and move accurately with the truth of the Word and the Spirit, resulting in great blessing for a host of believers. Unfortunately, I have also seen many others become side-tracked by extremism, ultimately shipwrecking their ministries and hurting and disillusioning many people in the process. (excerpt taken from the Introduction, page xiii, subsection Finding Balance Between Extremes, emphasis added)
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Grassley’s Quest Exonerated
So in the light of all of the above, we can conclude easily what I stated in the closing remarks of the last article of this blog: That the Senate Finance Committee investigation, led by Senators Grassley and Baucus, is IN FACT completely in CONFORMITY with the teachings of the founder of the Word of Faith movement—Rev. Kenneth E. Hagin. Some of the very things “Dad” Hagin corrected both Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar (and others) concerning—especially with regard to their “lavish, ostentatious” lifestyles—are the very things Senator Grassley’s team are inquiring about. Thus:
If Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar had heeded the biblical advise of their superior, they would NOT be having many of the problems they are having today.
Brother Hagin clearly stated within The Midas Touch, “We have seen an extreme emphasis on teaching that prosperity—especially material prosperity—is for Christians. Some have come to believe that demonstrating prosperity involves displaying a lavish, ostentatious lifestyle rather than being good stewards and efficiently harnessing abundant resources to promote the Gospel and to minister the goodness of God to all who are in need” (the italics are his, the bold text emphasis is mine). It is clear from the following BBC news broadcast that the lifestyles (not beliefs) of the Copelands and others, are what have drawn the attention of Senator Grassley’s office, and raised concern that such televangelists might be actually taking advantage of unsuspecting donors:
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We can readily see that (within the light of that is in this article and the previous one) the SFC investigation is certainly NOT an effort to “persecute” these six televangelists because of their “Word of Faith” beliefs.
In fact, it could ACTUALLY be said that the Senate Fiance Committee investigation is an extension of the Lord’s corrective efforts toward Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar (in particular), since they failed to heed the reproof given by Brother Hagin.
(And it is interesting to note that the ONLY two of the six televangelists who have refused to cooperate with the investigation are the ONLY two of the six who were present at that meeting with Kenneth E. Hagin. This is because neither Kenneth Hagin—nor any Word of Faith minister I know personally—considered the other four to be “Word of Faith” ministers. Charasmatic, yes. “Prosperity preachers,” yes. But not Word of Faith. In our opinion, that is just another one of Copeland’s and Dollar’s deceptive tactics used to try and turn this investigation into a Constitutional “First Amendment” issue.)
Again, we can easily conclude the same thing that Rusty Leonard of Ministry Watch did concerning Kenneth Copeland’s refusal to cooperate with the SFC investigation when he said:
…Copeland doesn’t want the public or his donors to see what he’s been doing, and that’s alarming. It screams that he his hiding something from KCM donors and the public.”
“The idea that Copeland is standing on some constitutional principle [i.e. his First Amendment rights to freedom of religion] is simply a diversion,” Leonard said.
Leonard added: “Copeland’s complaint about Sen. Grassley’s right to ask for this information is nothing more than a sideshow. KCM donors themselves have every right to ask for this information and Copeland has a moral obligation, that overrides any constitutional issue, to provide it….” (To review the entire Ministry Watch statement, download the PDF here)
Let me add that Kenneth Copeland also has a moral obligation to submit to the godly counsel of his mentor, who already admonished him with the Word of God in these same matters. Thus, even Kenneth E. Hagin’s previous actions—and still-published position on these particular issues—support our own efforts to call “on the man, his family, and his ministry… to simply repent.“
Now let us proceed to the next article of this section to examine Kenneth Copeland’s alleged “holy war” against Senator Grassley even further, and draw our discussion of this particular manifestation of Copeland’s deceit and corruption to an appropriate close in the light of the Scriptures. Then we will move on to the NEXT set of issues we need to expose…
On November 6th, 2007, Senator Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) office sent letters to six “televangelists” (i.e. Christian ministers who have extensive television exposure) in an effort to obtain information about potential “abuses” of donor-originated funds within these non-profit organizations. Regarding this expansion of an ongoing investigation into non-profit organizations, his office’s website states:
Sen. Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Committee on Finance, has asked six media-based ministries for information regarding expenses, executive compensation, and amenities given to executives. The inquiry is part of Grassley’s long-standing interest in making sure tax-exempt organizations are accountable to donors.
“I’m following up on complaints from the public and news coverage regarding certain practices at six ministries,” Grassley said. “The allegations involve governing boards that aren’t independent and allow generous salaries and housing allowances and amenities such as private jets and Rolls Royces. I don’t want to conclude that there’s a problem, but I have an obligation to donors and the taxpayers to find out more. People who donated should have their money spent as intended and in adherence with the tax code.”
Grassley wrote to Randy and Paula White of Without Walls International Church and Paula White Ministries of Tampa, Fla.; Benny Hinn of World Healing Center Church, Inc. and Benny Hinn Ministries of Grapevine, Texas; David and Joyce Meyer of Joyce Meyer Ministries of Fenton, Mo.; Kenneth and Gloria Copeland of Kenneth Copeland Ministries of Newark, Texas; Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church and Bishop Eddie Long Ministries of Lithonia, Ga., and Creflo and Taffi Dollar of World Changers Church International and Creflo Dollar Ministries of College Park, Ga.
Grassley has reviewed a wide range of non-profit issues over the last five years, first as Finance Committee chairman and now as ranking member. The committee has exclusive Senate jurisdiction over federal tax policy, including the policy governing the billions of dollars donated to and controlled by the nation’s tax-exempt groups.
(Rich Note: Copies of the six specific letters can be found on the Senator’s website.)
Of the six contacted, four have cooperated in ways that apparently please the Senator’s investigators. Two of the ministries, however, have not: Kenneth and Gloria Copeland of Kenneth Copeland Ministries of Newark, Texas; and Creflo and Taffi Dollar of World Changers Church International and Creflo Dollar Ministries of College Park, Georgia.
Biblical Precepts Vs. Copeland’s Games
Why have these couples and their ministries refused to cooperate? The Scriptures themselves seem to be very clear regarding ministers needing to be transparent with their use of offerings (i.e. donor contributions):
Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.(Romans 12:17, KJV)
And we are sending along with him the brother who is praised by all the churches for his service to the gospel. What is more, he was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry the offering, which we administer in order to honor the Lord himself and to show our eagerness to help. We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of men. (2 Corinthians 8:18-21, NIV)
Paul certainly wanted to make sure there was no room for criticism of his ministry—nor reproach brought upon the Gospel itself. Yet, these two ministry couples and their ministries are refusing to “provide things honest” in the sight of ANYONE.
In fact, rather than cooperating with the Senator’s office… the Copelands called for an “IRS Review” of their finances on April 7th, 2008—over FIVE MONTHS after the original letters were released from Senator Grassley’s office. Rusty Leonard of MinistryWatch.com (a Christian watchdog group that attempts to induce major ministries to be appropriately transarant with their finances, as the Scriptures above state they should) described Copeland’s maneuver this way:
…Copeland is trying to create the impression that he is being cooperative, when in fact he failed to comply with 25 of the 42 requests for information from Sen. Grassley. Now, he wants the IRS to continue the investigation, but only because IRS investigations are confidential. Copeland doesn’t want the public or his donors to see what he’s been doing, and that’s alarming. It screams that he his hiding something from KCM donors and the public.“
Further, in his Friday morning March 7th “partner meeting” at the 2008 Branson Victory Campaign, Kenneth Copeland stated openly that KCM conducted an internal audit of the ministry immediately after the Grassley investigation began November 6th, 2007. Of course, he brushed it off as a “just in case” type of effort, stating that there were no problems in their books. But that raises a major question…
Why did it take FIVE months for Kenneth Copeland Ministries (KCM) to get around to requesting the audit from the IRS? Couldn’t they have done so within a month or two—or even three—if KCM’s books were truly clean? What was so complex about the internal audit that they wanted to wait FIVE MONTHS before requesting the review?
(Note: We will read more of Rusty’s assessment of Copeland’s probable true motives further below within this article. However, I want to draw your attention to the “Media Video” tab at the top of this blog, wherein there is embedded an excellent 20/20 John Stossel report that details the history and Christian principles behind the foundation of MinistryWatch.com by its founder, Rusty Leonard.)
‘Buffalo Chip’ Alert
To listen to the perspectives of Kenneth Copeland or Creflo Dollar regarding the announcement of the Senate Finance Committee’s investigation of non-profit entities, you might possibly think that the investigation is an anti-Christian “witch hunt” that suddenly erupted upon their ministries without provocation.
Claiming “religious persecution”, these two ministries now claim that this investigation is directed toward them (and the other four televangelists) because they are “all Word of Faith ministries.” Thus, Copeland and Dollar have refused to cooperate so on the grounds of “Constitutional First Amendment rights.” They claim that their rights of religious freedom are being specifically targeted because of their “Word of Faith” beliefs.
But is that true? Not really… but it sure sounds like a good excuse for their continued efforts to keep their financial records secret (unless, of course, you review the facts).
Investigation Background Facts
The earliest reference I can find to Senator Grassley’s now-seven-year investigation into the potential abuses by non-profit organizations of donor contributions is a press release on his Senate website dated March 9th, 2001 entitled, Grassley Announces Hearing on Charitable Giving.
However, beginning with the following excerpt from a April 5th, 2004 press release, we learn that there are actually TWO senators looking into things. SFC member Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) is also actively involved in investigating non-profit abuses, and the two senators seem to have specific goals in mind for their efforts:
Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Committee on Finance, and Sen. Max Baucus, ranking member, today expanded their ongoing review of charities’ governance to include the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation. Their action came after media reports described the lack of movement from the foundation and the National Park Service to improve the statue and offer adequate public access after the Sept. 11, 2001, tragedy.
“For months, the Finance Committee has been reviewing the financial practices and accountability to donors of charities and private foundations,” Grassley said. “We’ve seen a pattern of these groups sitting on huge endowments, paying executives six-figure salaries, and spending relative pennies on their stated missions. Some of these foundations seem to exist only to perpetuate themselves. Unfortunately, it looks like the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation might be in that category…. (Grassley, Baucus Expand Charities Review to Statue of Liberty Foundation, emphasis added)
(So, the Statue of Liberty Foundation is one of the non-profit organizations that has been on their “radar.” Does that sound like a case of religious persecution to you? I think not.)
Let me point out that two things are clear from the excerpt above: First, that the senators were made aware of the alleged abuses through media reports. Second, that the key issue of the investigation is related to “the financial practices and accountability to donors of charities and private foundations.” This is about explaining “where the donor money goes”—and not about the personal beliefs of The Statue of Liberty Foundation or its members.
Next we find in the following press release excerpt from April 25, 2005 that the senators were expanding their investigations into other areas of apparent non-profit tax law abuse:
Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Committee on Finance, and Sen. Max Baucus, ranking member, today said they plan to propose reforms to stop the use of “supporting organizations” for generous tax breaks rather than charitable purposes. The senators plan to include a crackdown on supporting organization abuse in their comprehensive charitable governance reform legislation to be introduced in the next few months.
Grassley and Baucus have learned of supporting organization abuse through their own investigation and media reports, such as the front-page story in today’s New York Times.
“This is extremely troubling,” Grassley said. “Individuals are using supporting organizations to play fast and loose with the tax rules intended to help charities and encourage giving. It’s clear Congress and the administration will have to take steps to stop this abuse and ensure that charitable donations benefit the needy. I’m deeply disturbed that with a good number of supporting organizations, people are taking multi-million dollar tax deductions for what they claim are contributions to charity, yet too often the result is a thimbleful of benefit to charity….Meanwhile, the charities are lucky if they receive enough money to buy a blanket for the homeless. While the taxpayers get bilked by this abuse, sadly the needy ultimately suffer because they’re denied the benefits intended by the tax law. (Grassley Plans to Take Aim at Abusive “Supporting Organizations” for Charities, emphasis added)
Again, we notice that the senators learned of the alleged abuses in-part through the media. We also see that their chief focus is that the U.S. tax law is being complied with as intended—not the personal beliefs of individuals.
The following more-recent release even explains how the two senators were calling on the Treasury Secretary to “pay particular attention” to two specific types of non-profits regarding tax-reporting requirements:
Seeking greater transparency into the workings of tax-exempt organizations including charities, Sens. Chuck Grassley and Max Baucus are urging the Treasury Secretary to update the IRS tax form used by the nonprofit sector.
The senators made their request in a letter sent today. They urged the Treasury Department to make gathering more and better information a top priority and to pay particular attention to the operational complexities of nonprofit hospitals and universities. “While we always hear that sunshine is the best disinfectant, sunshine can’t do its work unless we open the blinds,” Grassley and Baucus wrote. “The sooner we open those blinds the better.”
In the press release above, the two senators are targeting “nonprofit hospitals and universities” above…which shows two additional types of nonprofit organizations they are investigating in the light of U.S. tax law. Do you think the beliefs of those entities is their concern? (Neither do I.)
Now Let’s Review…
With what I have provided here so far, we can easily identify several key facts about the non-profit investigations to date:
That they have been ongoing since at least the year 2001, and are NOT recent efforts.
These are not limited to any one type or class of non-profit organizations, but are a sweeping review of all types—with a focus of reviewing/refining current tax laws in place.
That the senators involved primarily learn of potential abuses through the media (and “whistleblowers” as we will see below), though their own offices’ investigations surely provide the bulk of the information obtained.
They do not care about the beliefs of any of these non-profit groups. The senators are concerned ONLY with the financial practices of these groups in the light of the law—and the legitimate interests of their trusting donors.
And for additional confirmation of the above points, consider for a moment now this following news reports about Senator Grassley’s efforts to hold various groups accountable:
“Grassley deserves credit for taking steps to ensure nonprofits are honest and their tax exemptions are reasonable. He has investigated and questioned agencies all over the country, including the Red Cross, hospitals and televangelists. He knows nonprofits do important work. He also knows there’s something wrong when board members collect hundreds of dollars an hour to serve a ‘charity’.” (Credit Grassley for Probing Tax Status of Lush ‘Charity’, Des Moines Register, Tuesday, February 12, 2008)
“Grassley is a ‘non-profit cop,’ who keeps watch on tax-exempt organizations.” (Look into AARP’s nonprofit status, The Des Moines Register Editorial, Monday, November 10, 2008)
“…As the senior Republican on the Senate’s finance committee and as a senior member of the judiciary committee, he [Senator Grassley] has carved out a role as a relentless watchdog who acts a magnet for whistleblowers in government agencies ranging from the U.S. Department of Defense to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). In the last several years, Grassley has set his investigative sights on issues relating to medicine. A leading critic of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since the surprise withdrawal from the market of Merck’s painkiller Vioxx in 2004, Grassley is now focusing on university researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) who haven’t been properly reporting income from drug companies.” (Straight talk with…Charles Grassley, Nature Medicine, October 2008)
Of the two senators involved, Senator Grassley in particular has obviously developed over the years a reputation as being a “magnet for whistleblowers” and a “watchdog” of both government agencies and nonprofit organizations.
Televangelist Time
Now with all the above facts in mind, let me ask you:
If the Senate Finance Committee (and these two senators in particular) are doing a “sweeping review of ALL non-profit organizations”… then isn’t it logical that eventually they would come around to checking on churches and religious non-profit organizations?
If these two senators often learn of non-profit abuses through news reports and “whistleblowers” that come to them, then should they not also expand their review of charities to possibly include ministries or churches who have been reported to them as potentially abusing their donors’ money?
Personally, I believe that any impartial person would have to look at the above facts and conclude, “Yes!” to all of the above.
I certainly not a big fan of the U.S. Federal Government (or ANY government) getting its nose into the affairs of the Church in general. However, neither am I a big fan of over-bloated “ministries” who squander funds for their own pleasure that could be better utilized elsewhere in the Body of Christ—especially if they use deceptive practices to “fleece the sheep” of their money.
There are valid ministries going “without” while these “preachers” are driving donor-funded Rolls Royces… and there is something extremely wrong with that in my opinion. So within that context, I can easily support the Senator’s efforts to ensure financial transparency of such “ministerial” behemoths.
Further, now that we have been discussing him all this time, let us give Senator Grassley a chance to explain to us what brought these issues to his attention, and what his clear intentions are in expanding this investigation to include the six televangelists in question:
Senator Chuck Grassley stated in the video above that he certainly understands the “line” of the “separation of church and state” in that he is NOT interested in doctrinal issues at all. What he is interested in determining is whether the U.S. tax law is being complied with, if there are abuses by these televangelists of their donors’ money, and whether there is appropriate transparency between the ministries and their contributors. Again, it is not their “beliefs” that he is concerned with… it is their deeds in the light of the law.
It is my personal opinion that all the evidence at hand concerning the history of the investigative efforts of Senators Grassley and Baucus concerning non-profit organizations, confirm the positions he stated within the video above. Thus,I have already personally concluded:
The Senate Finance Committee’s investigation of the six televangelists—including Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar—is certainly NOT a case of religious persecution “because of their Word of Faith beliefs.”
In fact, I agree with the following fuller assessment given by Rusty Leonard of Ministry Watch concerning Kenneth Copeland’s refusal to cooperate with the investigation when he said (which we had previously referenced only in brief further above):
…Copeland is trying to create the impression that he is being cooperative, when in fact he failed to comply with 25 of the 42 requests for information from Sen. Grassley. Now, he wants the IRS to continue the investigation, but only because IRS investigations are confidential. Copeland doesn’t want the public or his donors to see what he’s been doing, and that’s alarming. It screams that he his hiding something from KCM donors and the public.”
Leonard said that Copeland was clever by asking for the IRS to intervene, because it is his best chance to hold Grassley and the media at bay.“For many years the IRS has been under-resourced when it comes to this kind of investigation,” Leonard said. “An IRS investigation could take years, will be completely out of the public eye, and may result in nothing more than fines for KCM. Copeland has made a business decision that it’s far better for him to deal with the IRS in secret than to face Sen. Grassley or ’60 Minutes’ in public. One can only wonder what he might be trying to hide from his donors.”
Copeland should “come clean,” Leonard said, and fully disclose all requested information to both Grassley, to the donors to KCM, and to the public. “The idea that Copeland is standing on some constitutional principle is simply a diversion,” Leonard said.
Leonard added: “Copeland’s complaint about Sen. Grassley’s right to ask for this information is nothing more than a sideshow. KCM donors themselves have every right to ask for this information and Copeland has a moral obligation, that overrides any constitutional issue, to provide it. Donors are fortunate that Grassley is using his position to act on their behalf.”… (To review the entire Ministry Watch statement, download the PDF here)
I can wholeheartedly agree with Rusty’s assessment above, because it perfectly aligns with what Jesus said about they type of behavior that Kenneth and Gloria Copeland and Creflo and Taffi Dollar (and their ministries) have exhibited to date:
And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God. (John 3:19-21, NKJV, emphasis added)
Copeland refuses to “come to the light,” which indicates strongly that he is hiding something. His actions to date (in the light of the passage above) indicate that there is something likely “evil” in his deeds that he does not want to be exposed.
(Nevertheless, despite his efforts to conceal his affairs, I will actually be exposing and documenting within KennethCopelandBlog.com a few of those “hidden” deeds of which I am aware…)
So once again I draw your attention to the byline of this blog at the top of every page: We are calling on the man (Kenneth Copeland), his family, and his ministry…to simply repent.
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