Televangelists Living Like Kings?
Senator Investigates Whether Prominent Ministers’ Churches Are Really Non-Profits
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Play CBS Video Video Eye To Eye: Ministries Probed "Only On The Web": The watchdog group Trinity Foundation investigates the religious rich. Its founder, Ole Anthony, talks about his crusade to hold big-money ministries accountable.
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Senator Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, has asked six televangelist ministries to provide financial statements and records for an investigation into possible impropriety. (AP)
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Blog Primary Source Armen Keteyian and his investigative team keep you informed daily on their blog.
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E-MAIL US CBS News Investigates E-mail Armen Keteyian and the investigation team with your story ideas.
Because they run churches they do not have to file tax forms with the IRS. So it's unclear how many millions - or billions - are collected every year.
And it’s uncertain how all the money is spent, CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports.
“Rolls Royces, Bentleys ... a marble commode in an expensive home: that’s a lot of money down the toilet,” said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.
Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, capped a two-year investigation on Monday by requesting financial records from six top televangelists to see whether they are helping others - or themselves.
Today, five of six denied any wrongdoing to CBS News. One did not respond to calls for comment.
“My goal for reform is not necessarily to pass laws but to make sure the laws are being followed,” Grassley said.
Ole Anthony, director of the Trinity Foundation, has been on a 20-year-crusade to expose TV ministers who abuse the failth of others.Read more on the probe from the CBS News Investigative Unit
Watch more of Keteyian's interview with Sen. Grassley.
Check out Primary Source, our investigative blog.
“They live like multi-billionaires off the income from the poorest and most desperate people in our society,” he said.
Some of these televangelists preach the so-called "gospel of prosperity."
Now a powerful Republican senator has demanded they all provide financial records by early December - to determine if they are living that gospel as well.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Read more on the probe from the CBS News Investigative Unit
Watch more of Keteyian's interview with Sen. Grassley.
Check out Primary Source, our investigative blog.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."





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See all 117 Commentshttp://open-letter-for-pastor-hagee.org/
I am very happy in my life! And for all of the people who support such ministries I am not jealous of these people. They are competing against each other to see who can get the most stuff. What happened to standing up for something other than who can get the next private plane.
A lie cannot live.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere
Martin Luther King Jr.
Why do they need 50thousand square foot homes and multiple vacation homes just as large?
Surely they can get by on just 1 mil a year, instead of the obvious multi-hundred millions they squander on themselves BEFORE a dime goes to help the needy...
Posted by DylanXXV at 06:19 PM : Nov 07, 2007
Exactly, these fat cats get on the tube and gay bash night and day, but they seem to forget the Bible''s admonition that it''s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter into heaven. It''s sickening that people actually think these guys are "believers." Any dishonest atheist knows that the easiest way to get rich in this country is to find JESUS!
Posted by countingonu2 at 09:40 PM : Nov 07, 2007
Ummm, are you on drugs? These preachers make themselves rich by preying (no pun intended) on the poorest, most elderly, most vulnerable people in society? Do you really think it''s okay that they are out buying prostitutes while the victims of their fraud are eating cat food? You need to do some more crack. It might bring back around to reality.
My family gives to these ministries because we believe the Word of God.
As far as SSOIL6327''s claim the Copelands were responsible for Bonnie Parker''s death, Jesus states time and time again that healing is according to YOUR faith. It is unfortunate that she died, but going after the Copelands on some sort of "vendetta" is not going to bring her back. Besides bitterness and unforgiveness is one of the quickest ways to separate yourself from the love of God.
It is unrealistic to expect anyone to give all they have away. What about their children and their retirement? Should they not be able to invest for their own future and the future of their posterity.
Posted by paulie91864 at 06:34 PM : Nov 07, 2007
Are you serious? 99.9% of the money they "make" (as you call it) is from donations from people like you who could really care that a good portion of the money they "make" goes in their own pockets...I do not care if bubba or bore make 99 trillion from a book...I would care if bubba or bore scamed the money off their followers as these so called men of God do...
As for the second part...No...It is NOT unrealistic to expect them to give away the money donated to them to do Gods work...What IS unrealistic is that they live very, very high on the hog while very little of the money is actually used for what it was intended for...
Your saying it''s OK if they spend 90.00 or 95.00 out of every 100.00 on themselves?
It is unrealistic to expect anyone to give all they have away. What about their children and their retirement? Should they not be able to invest for their own future and the future of their posterity. I think it is ridiculous to have a senate investigation for this. Isn''t the IRS empowered to audit these organizations/minitries and revoke their non-profit status if they are not complying. Is the senator saying he has no faith in the IRS? I wonder what would turn up if he were audited?
Why do they need 50thousand square foot homes and multiple vacation homes just as large?
Surely they can get by on just 1 mil a year, instead of the obvious multi-hundred millions they squander on themselves BEFORE a dime goes to help the needy...
He left the Pharisees, who pursued the same lavish lifestyle as these tele-evangelists, to become...
A Tentmaker.
Jesus said himself: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites..."
Woe to anyone who has made a business out of religious activity.
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