The Prosperity Gospel

To: Reverend Elmer Gantry
Main Street
Zenith, USA

Dear Reverend Gantry,

This letter is written to you because you were one of the first to preach the prosperity gospel in the electronic media—that is, the evangelism that says the more a preacher’s followers give, the more they will ultimately be blessed with riches. Recently, your fellow Baptist, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, has been investigating your prosperous brethren who preach this good news.

Grassley wrote to six media-based ministries in 2007 regarding their tax-exempt status. He requested information about their income, expenditures, and the personal use of assets by church leaders. The January 2011 report compiled by Grassley’s staff notes that World Healing Center Church, based in Texas, and Joyce Meyer Ministries, in Missouri, have undertaken significant financial reporting reforms and are “to be commended.” The other four megachurches either did not respond to Grassley or provided an incomplete response.

Some ministries have much that they do not wish to report. For example, at least 21 “assumed” names are registered with the State of Texas for Eagle Mountain International Church, AKA Kenneth Copeland Ministries. The for-profit entities represented by those names include record companies and recording studios. The Copeland Ministries formed an “elite CX team” to raise money to buy the ministry a Citation X airplane, as reported by Laurie Goodstein in the New York Times in 2009.

Megachurch evangelists, using their tax-exempt “parsonage allowance,” sometimes receive extravagant amounts. Paula and Randy White received $700,000 in 2006 and more than $1 million in 2007 for such a “parsonage” from their Without Walls International Church in Florida. At the same time, the couple lived in a $2.7 million home in that state and owned a $3.5 million condo in the Trump Tower in New York City. These ministers also receive gifts and “love offerings” that are passed through the church. With some exceptions, these love offerings are not considered taxable income. All of you who fill out federal income tax forms, try claiming next year that your W-2 salary or 1099 income is really a “love offering” and thus not taxable.