Televangelist preaches prosperity — and his relatives gain it

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-televangelist-copeland-jul27,0,4480941.story

Tax experts cast doubt on legality of Kenneth Copeland's web of companies, non-profits

By Eric Gorski | The Associated Press
July 27, 2008

NEWARK, Texas — Here in the gentle hills of north Texas, televangelist Kenneth Copeland has built a religious empire teaching that God wants his followers to prosper.

Over the years, a circle of Copeland's relatives and friends have done just that, The Associated Press has found. They include the brother-in-law with a lucrative deal to broker Copeland's television time, the son who acquired church-owned land for his ranching business and saw it more than quadruple in value, and board members who together have been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for speaking at church events.

Church officials say no one improperly benefits through ties to Copeland's vast evangelical ministry, which claims more than 600,000 subscribers in 134 countries to its flagship "Believer's Voice of Victory" magazine. The board of directors signs off on important matters, they say. Yet church bylaws give Copeland veto power over board decisions.

While Copeland insists that his ministry complies with the law, independent tax experts who reviewed information obtained by the AP through interviews, church documents and public records have their doubts. The web of companies and non-profits tied to the televangelist calls the ministry's integrity into question, they say.

[Warpy]

1. He professed his ability to do good

and he's done real well.

Prosperity theology is about to bite all those old boys on the ass because it's just not working any more. People are going to be really upset at being conned for so many years.

Expect lawsuits.

[NanceGreggs]

2. Oh noes!!!

The integrity of a televangelist's ministry called into question?

Who ever suspected that these flim-flam men weren't strictly on the up-and-up!?!

:shrug:

[Heidi]

3. They should lose their tax-exempt status, not only for this

but for from-the-pulpit efforts to influence public policy. :thumbsdown:

[tanyev]

4. See? Prosperity gospel works!

For those at the top of the pyramid. Kind of like a religious MLM scheme.

[Booster]

5. How I wish Michael Moore would do an expose of these frauds.

Show where they live, what they drive and who benefits (like this article) from being a member of their family. Of course, Michael's life would be in danger as these people would say God told them to strike him dead.