[ampaterry]

I remember when Jim and Tammy Bakker were exposed for all the funds they were skimming from their ministry. A lot of people at work were talking about it, what a tragedy it was. I responded that I knew there were some bad eggs out there, but people just had to realize that the Devil works OVERTIME on evangelists, and the bigger they are, the harder he works on them! The devil is not stupid; how many Christians did he drive from the kingdom when he took down Jim and Tammy? Then I added that if there was one evangelist I believed did what’s right, it would be Jimmy Swaggart.

This is from a USA Today article from many years ago. Larry King was commenting on the Jimmy Swaggart scandal:
"Thoughts on the Rev. Jimmy Swaggart, who this writer knows pretty well: I would buy all of the sadness and tears and recriminations if, and this is a big if, Jimmy had come forward with his problem before somebody had pictures proving it. Anybody can be repentant when caught. Also, if he really wanted true forgiveness he could donate his estate and all that property to some worthy charity. Give up all his earthly goods. As Lenny Bruce once told me, "If Jesus Christ came back, he wouldn't own more than one suit as long as somebody in the world had no clothes."

More recently, we find Pat Robertson used the airplanes of Operation Blessing – almost exclusively – to bring mining equipment into Zaire instead of relief supplies, because he is sole owner of a major diamond mine there.

Matthew 19:21-22 (KJV);
“Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.”

Now there is nothing at all wrong with having nice things; but when you see an evangelist pleading for people to give ‘sacrificially’ to their ministry, while they live in a mansion and own a bunch of expensive cars, you should suspect that something is wrong there!

May God bless each one of you -