Religion = £$£$£$

The pastor of my church hates to plead for money. But when the coffers were running low, he had no choice. "There's good news and there's bad news," he told the congregation. "The good news is that we have more than enough money for all the current and future needs of the parish. The bad news is, it's still in your pockets."


Just thought I would open with that joke there that I found on the web. It's not just randomness, it is relevant to today's blog. A bit of background for you; my mother is a Christian, she's pentecostal and has pretty strong, yet liberal beliefs. Every morning she watches a Christian channel on Sky (I found out there's about 30 different ones!!!) and one of the preachers on there she really likes a lot, the preacher's name is Joyce Meyer.


So I got home from work today, and as I do every day, I had a coffee and a chat with my mum. Somehow we got onto the subject of the preacher. Me being the kind of person I am, always like to question things and have a pretty dim view of organised religion. I brought up the subject of people donating to churches and these TV channels which beg for money at the top and bottom of every hour. We started having a bit of a debate about it and always keen to back up an argument with some proof I opened the laptop and brought up trusty Google. Did a pretty amateur search for 'Joyce Meyer finances' and a Wikipedia result came up, so I read on. I was telling my mother that the woman she had been posting money to for almost 2 years now, was travelling the world on a $10 million private jet, lived in a tidy $2million home, that she was earning a nice share out of $3million for book & audio royalties, that Joyce Meyer ministries had an income of $90million per year, 7 members of staff were employed to log the daily horde of private gifts and money sent to Joyce & her husband Dave. The two of them, along with 3 of their children sat on the board of the organisation, the 5 of them sat in on the votes that decided their salaries and decided that the ministry would buy them a home. I could go on all night about the different things I was reading. I know everyone has their critics, but Joyce Meyer's opponents include members of the US senate, independent Christian watchdog organisations, the IRS, their local government and many more.


I have no issue with people who follow a faith, or preach a faith but money seems a bizarre element to throw into the mix. A pastor/rabbi/priest/Imam whatever the religion.... they should not be doing the job for the money. I am not suggesting they should do it for free, they have to live after all. But it seems much more logical that they should receive the money they need to live a humble, yet comfortable life. Joyce Meyer ministries seem to have done lots of nice things for people but the $23,000 commode in their HQ is probably a little over-the-top. Does the Bible not say "It is harder for a rich man to enter Heaven, than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle"... something which doesn't seem possible. Not even if you put a camel in a giant blender, you wouldn't get it through that tiny hole. How does this woman, and others like her think that they're going to bend that rule?! I'm sure that God didn't think she needed the plastic surgery or her $500,000 holiday home did he? He said obey the law of the land - so why does the county have to take Joyce Meyer ministries to court in order to get them to pay the $770,000 per year tax bill, a decision which the organisation is now appealing against. On their website it says 'Change your life with your thoughts'. If you are giving money to an organisation or know someone who is... please just do a little research. It took me 30 minutes to get most of this info and you'll be amazed at what you will find.


I always like to offer a balanced argument so the standard response from Joyce Meyer which she preaches weekly and said in an article in the St Louis Post "There's no need for us to apologise for being blessed"...." You can be a businessman here in St. Louis, and people think the more you have, the more wonderful it is... but if you're a preacher, then all of a sudden it becomes a problem.


To see you out, here's a video from Joyce