A while back I applauded Iowa Senator Charles Grassley for his probe into the finances of several prominent televangelists.
There’s been little other news of this effort because it is proceeding, one would assume, at the usual glacial governmental pace; but this piece of news did come out recently:
Four of the ministers have since complied with the probe, but Rev. Kenneth Copeland, whose congregation recently bought him a $20 million private jet to preach the gospel, is holding out against the inquiry, which he claims is “aimed at publicly questioning the religious beliefs of the targeted churches.”
“It’s not yours, it’s God’s, and you’re not going to get it,” Copeland says of his financial records. He has launched a website to publicize his crusade and has received support from several leading conservatives, including Paul Weyrich and Kenneth Blackwell.
Okay, so it’s God’s money, and therefore the items you bought with it are God’s as well. He must be a really generous guy to keep letting you borrow his stuff.
Now, I’m not going to pretend to know more about this “God” person than the Reverend, who obviously knows him well enough that they travel together. But from what I remember reading about him years ago, I’m pretty convinced of one thing: he doesn’t need a plane to get around.
Ah, well, I suppose we can just say He invests in mysterious ways and move on to some praying and passing of the collection plate.
There is much more to this investigation that Grassley has initiated. The details requested by the Senator leaves me wondering what in the heck he had planned to do with them after he got his hands on them. I think that Copeland is standing on firm ground here and recognizes the bigger picture at play here.
Copeland does have some valid points here. I am not a follower of his, but I will support him through this investigation. It seems Grassley is pushing the limits to see how far he can go. We should all be concerned about how the outcome will affect all of us.
The newest nepotism angled attack on Copeland last week shows once again that Grassley’s suspicions are not carrying much weight. There are tons of organizations that are family run in this country today. This appears to be another smear technique by Grassley’s camp as Copeland stands strong. This needs to come to an end soon and the decision be made in Copeland’s favor.