Introduction
What most of us today imagine as a religious institution is
usually a modest, peaceful, and spiritual building. It houses a place of
worship; a church, synagogue, temple, or mosque, and most likely, has a person
who is trained to lead services in his or her particular religion with the ability
to counsel the members of these religious institutions or organizations. These
clergy are usually given a yearly salary through their congregation’s offerings
or through a national denomination group‘s charitable donations, these
contributions are also called tithing. This tithing is also used to help
congregation members when they have some type of financial problem and to help
local charities, to feed and clothe the poor in the community.
Different from basic religious intuitions or organizations
televangelists and their mega-churches send out their flamboyant mesmerizing
and at times disturbing sermons on to your radio, television, and internet.
With studios that look more like Hollywood sets than a place of religious
worship; showing a strange mixture of Christianity, spiritual drama, and
wealth. These ministries can be heard and seen in your home twenty-four hours a
day; seven days a week. These ministers speak of a version of the Christian
gospels that is called the “gospel of prosperity” which is also called the “law
of reciprocity“. This is the belief that donating money, or tithing to God,
creates wealth and a place in heaven for the donor. These televangelists also
strongly use the vivid imagery of hell, damnation, and Armageddon, to pull the
listener into their messages of tithing and its blessings. Though, not a new
concept in Christianity, it takes a very modern tone in these ministries
showing the listener all he or she can have if they just follow the “gospel of
prosperity“ and what may be their fate if they do not give to God. They use
people’s generosity, religious beliefs, fears, uncertainties, and sometimes
greed, to raise donations in the name of God and charity. But is this morally
and legally right? Can you really buy your way to heaven by tithing? Or is this
just another telemarketing scam?
Televangelism: Business, Political, or Religious
Organization
Television and radio ministries have been around for
decades, pulling listeners in with their strong messages of Christian
salvation. Televangelists like Billy Graham and Oral Roberts started the
movement of ministering to people in their own homes, through television and
radio programming formatted to entertain the listener and to provide another
religious outlet that was not just in a church pew on a Sunday morning. These
ministers’ message was a strong old Southern Pentecostal style of Christianity,
pulling from scriptures that focus heavily on the belief of salvation only
through Jesus Christ. They relied heavily on the belief in faith healing
through the laying on of hands and spiritual and physical prosperity through
giving. They also focused on the belief in the Rapture at the End of Days,
which is the belief that Christians will be taken physically up to heaven
before the war of Armageddon, which will be fought by Jews and other
non-Christians. Armageddon will end by all non-Christians being annihilated
because of their lack of belief in Jesus Christ, all Christians will then
return to earth, and Jesus Christ’s second coming will be complete. These
images were not only to encourage Christians to stay faithful to Jesus Christ,
but to bring in more listeners for the televangelists and their ministries.
Television and radio ministries were a new way to
proselytize to a mass audience starting out nationwide and gradually growing
worldwide, taking their message to a variety of cultures and countries that in
some cases had never heard of the Christian religion or its message and
scriptures. This was a more efficient way to spread the word than the old
traveling missionaries that had to journey around the world to proselytize to
the masses. These ministers also found that it could bring in a lot of
donations from eager donors. These donors wanted an easy way to spirituality,
believing it would help forgive their sins and would create a better existence
if they gave to God. They also hoped to create wealth and protection from
poverty and all its damaging side effects. Donors also believed that giving to
God would save them from physical and spiritual annihilation, guaranteeing them
a place in heaven during the Rapture and war of Armageddon in the future. This
made it not only a way to minister to the millions but to raise millions of
dollars yearly through their listeners’ hopes and fears. The profits from these
early media ministries started a whole new media system, based entirely on the
concept of saving souls through television, radio, publishing, and much later
the internet. These ministries were based on worship, healing, and salvation
through tithing.
Today there are Christian religious programs on most cable
and local television and radio stations. There are cable stations like The
Christian Broadcast Network (TBN) and satellite companies like the Angel
Network, that devote themselves entirely to Christian programming and
ministries throughout the United States and the world. Many of these
televangelists have or are affiliated with what is called today mega-churches,
which bring in even more congregation membership and revenue for their
ministries.
These ministries also have their own websites, and own or
are invested in publishing and film companies who create all forms of Christian
entertainment, including books, magazines, television shows, movies, and video
games. These are all based entirely on Christian news, lifestyle, scripture,
and belief. These media outlets raise billions every year from their listeners’
charitable donations. They promote the belief that if you give to them as a
church and charity, and buy their products, that you are giving to God‘s
kingdom guaranteeing you earthly wealth and a place in heaven.
Televangelists tell their audiences that the money that is
donated is biblical tithing, money that is going directly to God, his kingdom,
and people. This money will create wealth for them, the donor is told, and is
going to those who are needy around the world. Televangelists use their own
interpretation of Christian scripture on giving and charity called the “gospel
of prosperity” to convince their followers that poverty is caused by not
believing that wealth is good and a natural spiritual state of being a true
Christian. The richer you are as a Christian the more you are closer to God and
his favor. These ministers use psychological reinforcement to make the listeners
feel special or superior to those who are suffering in the world. This makes
poverty a curse from God making believers of the “gospel of prosperity” feel
that the poor are sinning somehow, and if they are poor, making them believe
they must give no matter how. To insure that followers give to their
organizations, televangelists create different interpretation of the Old
Testament (the Torah) and New Testament (the Christian bible).
The ‘prosperity gospel” keeps reminding listeners that
poverty is a curse from God, and donating your last dollar is the only way to
save yourself from this curse. There is no other way to atone for your sins,
than to send money to, whichever televangelist you are listening too.
Televangelists use extreme psychological and business tactics to get listeners
to pick up their phones and donate. They sell religion in the same way
telemarketers sell you products and services, anything from friendly persuasion
to outright spiritual threats, using God and the fear of damnation as their
sale’s tools. They play on people’s weaknesses, desires, basic needs, and spiritual
fears, particularly, targeting those who have been raised in the Pentecostal
faith or other Evangelical denominations. They prey on the elderly and their
retirement benefits and real estate holdings, and they also pray on those with
fixed incomes. Those who they know are having spiritual doubts in their own
religious experiences, whether Christian or not, are also targeted. These
ministers feel that those weak in faith may be easily converted to their
viewpoints and interpretations of Christianity through fear tactics.
Televangelists make themselves the only path to God and salvation, for the
millions who listen to their messages. Televangelists pull heavily on the
Christian tradition of never questioning a member of the clergy or their view
of what is right or wrong, which would be considered rude. Many of these
listeners do not understand Christian scripture, and feel it is not their place
to understand. They feel that because it is a minister (a man or woman of God),
they can trust them and their interpretation of biblical scripture because they
have been anointed by God Himself. To question anything these ministers say
would be a sin against God himself. These ministries also want to generate an
atmosphere of distrust when it comes to the secular world for their followers,
making them more emotionally and spiritually depended on them for their
spiritual and physical well-being. They rely on people’s gullibility and
ignorance of their own religion or political viewpoints, speaking out against
any form of intellectualism, whether it is religious or secular. If their
listeners start asking too many questions, these ministers fear they will stop
listening to them. This would stop the donations coming, which would affect
their ministries. Ignorance is bliss for these businesses.
Listeners are told on these ministries’ websites,
television, and radio programs how they can send in as little as a dollar,
twenty dollars or thousands of dollars. Payments can be made by cash, check,
credit card, money order, and direct-deposit. They can be made one-time-only,
weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, and yearly or whatever is convenient for the
donor. Listeners are encouraged to give in various ways. They can give stock
from companies that they have invested in. They can give IRA and annuities in
portions, sharing their retirement with a televangelist’s ministry of their
choice. Donors can give property as gifts, receiving a partial payment from the
ministry, and avoiding the capital gains tax. Donors can also give estate
gifts, by putting the ministry in their wills, to avoid estate taxes. Listeners
are shown products like jewelry, books, DVDs, CDs, and other products with
Christian imagery and subject matter, that they can receive for even more
charitable giving. They are also encouraged to go buy these products in their
local Christian book stores and national Christian websites. Most listeners do
no truly know where their hard earned money goes; they just send it in without
any questions.
Televangelists like Pat Robertson, Joyce Meyers, Kenneth
Copeland, Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen, John Hagee, and others, look more like
corporate business leaders and political lobbyists than your basic clergy at
your local place of worship. With the use of Christian scriptures and imagery,
good business skills and management, and psychological tactics, they gain
wealth through the selling of salvation, blessings, and the pardoning of sins.
The money they raise from listeners is used to invest in many businesses like
cattle, movies, book and magazine publishing, diamond mines, nutritional and
vitamin companies, amusement parks, and various other investments. These
investments have nothing to do with basic religious ceremony or duties, or
charitable outreach and giving. Televangelists live a lavish lifestyle through
their listeners’ donations and gifts, with large salaries that allow for
multi-million-dollar homes and offices, expensive cars, and private jets (http://www.inplainsite.org/html/tele-evangelist_lifestyles.html.)
These religious organizations are more
like corporations, but because of the constitutional rules of the separation
between church and state and the tax except status of being a non-profit
organization; do not pay taxes. The United States government does not really
know how much these religious organizations or televangelists are worth
financially, because their businesses and investments are so vast, encompassing
the globe.
Televangelists and their religious businesses also give
heavily to political organizations and politicians that share their political
beliefs and causes, going against the federal government’s “501©(3) tax
exemption” for religious and charitable groups and organizations. They fight
against a woman’s right to a safe abortion, trying to pass laws affecting
reproductive health and services, legally stepping in between a woman and her
doctor. These ministers push hard against gay and lesbian rights, trying to
stop any equality protection policies and hate crime laws that include sexual
orientation. They also lobby to stop gay marriage and the ability for gay and
lesbians to adopt children. These ministers also want American public schools
to teach Creationism as a valid scientific fact over evolution, and to allow
for other Christian teachings to be part of the curriculum. They also lobby
hard for foreign and Middle Eastern affairs and policies that follow Evangelical
styled biblical prophecy, picking candidates that do not support peace treaties
because the Rapture and the End of Days cannot happen if there is no conflict
in the Middle East. Though, religious organizations are not allowed to lobby
and endorsed political candidates and political causes without giving up their
tax exemption status. These televangelists find loop holes or ignore it
completely, going around any legal or constitutional rules. They feel since
they are part of a religious institution, no one will stop them. And for the
most part, no one has tried to stop them.
These ministries are also strong proponents on the fight to
weaken or eliminate the constitutional rules on the separation of church and
state. The First Amendment in the Bill of Rights states:“Congress shall make no
law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof…” This constitutional protection is for all religions, not just one.
But, some of these ministries would like to establish a national religion and
church going against the United States Constitution, destroying the basic right
of freedom of religion and religious choice. They strongly lobby for this
through the policies and politicians they support. These ministries reinforce
this by scaring their audiences with the belief that if Christianity is not
made the national religion, Christianity will be deemed illegal. Listeners are
told that if they do not vote the way that the ministries want them to, they
are going against God and his Kingdom. The paranoia this helps produce creates
a group of people that do not trust their government or any secular
institutions that could help them, and at times can create violent reactions.
Tithing and Charity: History and Facts
So what is true biblical tithing? The Ancient Israel, of the
Jewish Torah (also called the Old Testament) viewed tithing and money as two
different things entirely. Money from a person’s own talent and work was their
own profits, to be used to support themselves and their families. Most things
from nature, was believed to be God’s gift to the Israeli people, and was
tithed back to help others, especially from farming and herding. The poor were
not obligated to tithe, because it added to their hardship, which was not
religiously acceptable to the laws of Israel. In fact these tithing were to
feed the needing and to give to the temple and its priests and servants. Modern
day Judaism still states that you must provide for yourself and your family
before you give to God.
Early Christian-Jews kept this tradition on tithing until
the Church legally changed the meaning of tithing and made it a mandatory part
of the Christian faith in 777 B.C.E. Even after the meaning of tithing was
changed, many early Church leaders still followed a life of poverty, believing
this was more biblically acceptable. They believed that riches were of the
physical world not the spiritual realm and were not important to a spiritual
existence.
In medieval Europe, the Catholic Church allowed the wealthy
to buy what was called “indulgences”, pardons for sins committed in business
and personal interactions These “indulgences” where a type of tithing to the
Church by wealthy business families, who believed that being in the business
world and doing its dealings created sins that they had to atone for by
donating a portion of their wealth. These donations (or tithing) helped create
a large amount Christian art and architecture, by building churches,
cathedrals, and paintings that were of biblical stories and people. Many of the
works from artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarrot, and
Raffaello Santi (also called Raphael), were funded through these church
followers’ indulgences. This type of tithing did come with its critics; men
like Martin Luther (1483-1546), the leader of the Lutheran Reformation felt
that the Catholic Church and its leaders were over stepping their holy duties.
Making themselves the holy ones and selling forgiveness that they had no right
to, and making the Church very wealthy. This was much like what televangelists
are doing today for themselves and their businesses.
Basic churches today use tithing for variety of purposes.
Most ministers have a set yearly income, which comes from their local church or
national denomination. This income is based on the ability of the church or its
organizations to pay, some ministers make more than others, but most do not
make more than a middle class income. Tithing is also used for the upkeep of
the church building and its property, which probably includes some type of
outside help and services. Church donation are also used to help the poor and
others who need help, like soup kitchens, work resources, drug counseling,
psychological help, spiritual support, and various other community programs
throughout the church’s area. Churches will also partner up with other places
of worship, community centers, and charitable organizations, to help a larger
population.
A donor must realize that some charities may pay more by
region and by what the non-profit is supporting. A charity that is based on
raising money for higher educational programs, museums or the arts will pay
their CEOs more than a charity that is helping the poor. The best way to be a
smart donor is to investigate a charity, whether religious or secular, and find
out what their reputation is.
Conclusion
Religion and charity is something that can and should go
hand and hand. Religious and secular institutions have had a history of helping
poverty and need throughout the world, and this has and will continue. On the
other hand, televangelists and their organizations do not follow rules and
regulations that deem them as a valid religious or charitable non-profit
organization. They break basic rules on political activity and it is hard to
prove what percentage of their listeners’ donations ever makes it to a real
charitable cause. The records are not there to see, which is the only valid way
to know if your donation is going to the needy or going into someone’s pocket.
But looking at televangelists’ lavish lifestyles of excess should give the
donor insight to where at least most of their donations are going too.
Televangelists preach about the importance of tithing to God for salvation and
the forgiving of sins. They twist Jewish and Christian scripture to support
their message of the “Gospel of Prosperity” or the “Law of Reciprocity” to make
themselves powerful and rich, lining their own pockets in the process. So can
you really buy salvation through tithing? This question can only be answered by
God, and He or She, cannot be interviewed.
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