IRS and Postal Service Agents On Scene at Benny Hinn's Office (UPDATED with Photos, Video)

UPDATE: For photos, video and more detail, scroll to the bottom.
 
As I write this, IRS and US Postal Service agents are at the Grapevine, TX office complex of mega-evangelist Benny Hinn according to Alice Barr, reporter for NBC in Dallas.


Perhaps, the agents are there to get healed.
Or perhaps, they want to examine Hinn’s books.
Media relations at IRS cited federal law barring disclosure and declined to confirm or deny the presence of agents at Hinn’s office. However, the agents are on the scene.
Apparently, Hinn is in France (the tweet I linked to has now been removed. For more, click here and here)
UPDATE: 4:30 PM.
A source at the scene informs me that the media crews have been at Hinn’s headquarters since 9 AM this morning. The entrance to Hinn’s headquarters is blocked off by a local police car and officer (photo below). Boxes have been coming out of the building. There are eight identical vehicles in the parking lot which the sources speculate could be from the IRS.

Entrace With Police Car
Entrance to Benny Hinn’s office blocked by police

Police Guarding Entrance
Police are not letting anyone out or in at Benny Hinn’s office in Grapevine, TX

 
News Cameras Waiting
Media crew wait for something to happen.

Hinn was investigated by a Congressional committee led by Chuck Grassley in 2010. No charges were filed and no public wrongdoing was disclosed.  Hinn has long been a flamboyant showman with a penchant for dramatic services and rich living. The Babylon Bee lampooned Hinn with a recent column which featured Hinn’s miracle of removing a large lump from a woman’s purse.
UPDATE: The major networks covered the story at 4PM CT.  Watch ABC’s coverage:

The follow up report has more detail:

UPDATE: According to commenter GWInsida, the IRS was at Hinn’s headquarters at least until 10:30PM (4/26/17) and expected to be there for awhile longer.  Hinn may be under scrutiny for funds collected to build a “healing center” which were never used to build anything.
I hope this investigation will lead to policy changes. I think Christian ministries which take in over $1 million dollars should be required to file 990 forms just as other non-profits do. They also should be required to provide audited financial statements to all donors. If the church will not (and it has shown it can’t) police itself, then there are governmental mechanisms already in place which would help provide accountability and transparency.
Additional reading:
Prior posts mentioning Benny Hinn (link)

GOP Candidate for Governor of Virginia Compares Removal of Confederate Monument to ISIS

I kid you not. Corey Stewart a GOP candidate for Virginia governor compared the removal of the white supremacist Liberty Place Monument in New Orleans to the destruction of antiquities carried out by ISIS.


The statue once carried a visible message celebrating white supremacy:

United States troops took over the state government and reinstated the usurpers but the national election November 1876 recognized white supremacy in the South and gave us our state.

Stewart, apparently unaware he is self-destructing, issued a statement:

Woodbridge, VA – Republican gubernatorial candidate Corey Stewart released a statement on the removal of confederate monuments deemed “racist” in New Orleans.
“The removal of these historical monuments is nothing less than the blatant destruction of U.S. history,” Stewart said. “This is what happens when weak-chinned Republicans refuse to stand up to the tyrannical political correctness on the left.”
“Democrats in New Orleans are destroying history today, just like they’re trying to in Charlottesville. This will not stop with Robert E. Lee or P. G. T. Beauregard. Next, they will tear down statues of Washington and Jefferson.”

Well, call me a weak-chinned Republican. Stewart supported Trump in the last election and reflects him well. New Orleans is doing the right thing and I hope more monuments to racism come down.

Despite Erroneous Material, Family Research Council Features David Barton at Event for Pastors

Once upon a time, Family Research Council promoted a video which featured a tour of the U.S. Capitol led by self-styled historian David Barton (see the original here). This Capitol tour video was filled with historical errors. Four years ago, 33 Christian historians and social scientists detailed those errors to FRC in a letter:

April 23, 2013
Dear Tony Perkins, Kenyn Cureton, & J.P. Duffy:
Knowing of your desire to offer truthful and accurate information to the public, we the undersigned Christian historians and social scientists request that you remove the video titled “U.S. Capitol Tour with David Barton” at this URL (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlfEdJNn15E) from YouTube.
There are many factual errors on this video which we detail in the attached summary. Given that the video has been viewed over 4 million times, it seems that the errors have been compounded among Christians who trust FRC for accurate information. Furthermore, it is apparent that pastors who go on the tour are learning false and misleading information.
We can provide complete documentation for everything we present here. Given that these claims are highlighted in the video but easily disproved, we believe these errors are enough to warrant the removal of the video with appropriate explanation.
We would be happy to discuss this matter further and hope that we can count on you to represent historical facts accurately.

Since the video was actually posted to the account of FRC VP Kenyn Cureton, he replied by saying Barton had agreed to correct the errors with new content. While this was not ideal, we waited to see what would happen.
In May 2013, after a follow up request from the historians to remove the video, Rev. Cureton made the video private thus removing it from public view. He told our spokesman Michael Coulter that FRC decided to make the video private so that no one could see “the erroneous material.” However, FRC declined to inform the public or provide an explanation for the removal. Eventually, Barton posted an altered version on his YouTube account without comment. I say altered and not corrected because the video was only a partial correction, the video still contains factual errors. The alteration was done in such a way as to make it seem like the video was never changed.
In summary, FRC acknowledged that David Barton was aware of his historical fiction and tried to alter the video without public acknowledgement of the errors and effort at correction. FRC leaders were aware of the many errors and did not alert their constituents to the false information.

Family Research Council Has Invited David Barton to Do It Again

Despite this history, FRC will again feature Barton as a Capitol tour leader and speaker at their Watchmen on the Wall event in May.

WotW 2017
From FRC website

If anything, the situation has worsened since 2013. Since then, David Barton has falsely claimed to have an earned PhD, only to go silent about the claim when it was revealed that the degree in question came from diploma mill Life Christian University. Barton never attended the school and was simply given the degree in the way an honorary degree is given. In academia, falsely claiming an earned doctorate is considered fraud. When I asked FRC’s Cureton if he was aware of this fraudulent claim, he referred me to media relations. I have heard nothing back from that department.
In the Capitol tour video, pastors who attended the event commented on what they had heard. I will never forget a pastor who looked into the camera and said he was angry because: “We’ve been lied to.” Watch:

Sadly, that pastor was right. He had been lied to. What he didn’t know is that the falsehoods were coming from his hosts and their featured speaker. That pastor might still think Congress printed the first English Bible in America for the use of schools. He might still think 29 out of 56 signers of the Declaration had Bible school degrees or that Thomas Jefferson ordered the marine band to play for worship services in the Capitol. If ever he learns the truth, I wonder if he will be even more angry at those who misled him. FRC should think about this before they host more historical fiction for a new group of pastors.
 
 

Joyce Meyer Ministries: Life Christian University’s Description of Earned Doctorate Does Not "Accurately Reflect the Information Correctly"

LCUS.Edu
LCUS.Edu

On October 7, I reported that evangelist Joyce Meyer claimed to have an earned PhD in theology from Life Christian University. She claimed to be a graduate on a promotional video still housed on the LCU website (this video has been removedMeyer’s picture remains) and said the degree was earned on her website. On October 11, I filed a complaint with the Missouri Attorney General’s office in keeping with MO law which forbids the use of false and misleading degrees in connection with one’s business or profession.

Sometime after the initial post and the AG complaint was filed, Joyce Meyer Ministries changed the designation of the LCU degree from “earned” to “honorary.” I know the change happened after the complaint was filed because the degree was described as “earned” on October 15, 2016 (from the Wayback Machine on Oct. 15). I discovered the change in November.

Until recently, I did not know why Joyce Meyer Ministries changed the designation from “earned” to the more accurate “honorary.” A few days ago, I received an email from the MO AG office indicating that action had been taken on my complaint. Attached to email was a March 29, 2017 letter from an attorney for Joyce Meyer Ministries to the MO AG’s office indicating that the designation had been changed on the website because the description was inaccurate. About LCU’s description of an earned degree, the spokesman for Joyce Meyer Ministry wrote:

While we are aware that this is the verbiage that Life Christian University uses on their own website and literature, we simply felt it did not accurately reflect the information correctly. Because of this we took the initiative to change the wording on our website and literature from “earned” to “honorary” before this complaint was filed.

While it is a small point, the initial post was public and the complaint was filed before the change was made. Nevertheless, I commend Joyce Meyer Ministries for this change and for acknowledging the truth about the situation. This is much more than David Barton or other so-called “earned degree” holders have done. I now call on her to remove her endorsement of LCU which she has acknowledged incorrectly reflects information about the degrees given to LCU’s “distinguished degree holders.”

Missouri’s law is one of the toughest in the nation on false and misleading degrees. Other LCU “distinguished degree holders” from MO include Billye Brim and Larry Ollison.

Former Auditor: Over Past Two Years, Gateway Church Overspent Revenues by $23-Million

On Tuesday, I reported that Dallas-Fort Worth megachurch Gateway Church is laying off staff while spending millions on undisclosed non-operating expenses. In addition, the fourth largest church in America may have spent millions more than revenues for the second year in a row. According to former Big 4 accounting firm auditor Jason Watkins, Gateway’s expenditures have exceeded revenues by nearly $23-million. The image below was supplied by Watkins.

Gateway Deficit Spending Graph
Compiled by Jason Watkins

You can read Gateway’s annual reports for 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 by clicking the links. However, the losses are not apparent at first glance. Watkins told me that the format of the annual reports obscures the true picture. The image below compares actual revenues and expenses.
GW 2015 revenue over expenses
Total revenue for 2015 includes the actual giving to the Heart for the Kingdom campaign and general fund revenue ($147,455,568). Expenses include the Heart for the Kingdom expenses, operational expenses, capital expenditures and debt retirement ($160,653,068). According to Watkins, Gateway spent just under $13.2-million more than the church took in.
In 2016, the church spent $9.6-million more than revenues. In the image below, compare the “non-operating expenditures” line ($13,123,084) with the “revenue over expenses – operational” line ($3,505,562). The difference is a loss of $9,617,522 for 2016. With the previous year’s deficit, Gateway has spent nearly $23-million more than received, according to Watkins.
Gateway Annual Report 2016
Since there is so little detail in the report and since Gateway has declined to respond to questions, it is not possible for me to be dogmatic about the financial picture. However, I think Watkins makes a good case that Gateway’s spending has exceeded what members have supplied. His conclusions seem quite consistent with what Gateway’s spokesman Lawrence Swicegood told the Star-Telegram about cuts in both staff and expenses.
Gateway wouldn’t be the first church to cut staff and expenses but the situation is noteworthy for at least two reasons. One, the size of the cut back is substantial — as many as one-third of 900 positions. Two, the lead pastor of Gateway Robert Morris is famous for his teachings about tithing and the promises that tithing will bring prosperity and success. Since the members have no input into how money is spent, the responsibility falls squarely on the leaders at Gateway.