Creflo Augustus Dollar (supposedly his real name) is one of the more notorious scam-evangelists in the United States. Founder of The World Changers Ministry Christian Center, and head of Creflo Dollar Ministries, he is one of many advocates of the “prosperity gospel,” which preys on poor people, often blacks, by assuring them that with sufficient faith—and sufficient donations to his ministry—they will find their ownwealth. He asks each of his flock to tithe 10% of his income to the Church.
Well, that program has certainly worked for him. As Wikipedia notes:
Dollar is known for his controversial teachings regarding prosperity theology. He has long been criticized for living a lavish lifestyle; he owns two Rolls-Royces, a private jet, and real estate such as a million-dollar home in Atlanta, a $2.5 million home in Demarest, New Jersey, and a $2.5 million home in Manhattan, which he sold for $3.75 million in 2012. Dollar has refused to disclose his salary and Creflo Dollar Ministries received a grade of “F” for financial transparency by the organization Ministry Watch.
Here’s a video in which Dollar touts the “success” ( = $$) that comes with proper belief:
Besides his relentless milking of his followers, there’s other evidence that Dollar is an unsavory piece of work. In 2012 he was arrested for choking his 15-year-old daughter (he claimed that he was only restraining her from going to a party). Charges were dropped after he completed an anger-management program.
The latest folly of this man is his recent and astounding request that his parishoners buy him a 65-million dollar Gulfstream jet. As CNN reports:
The minister, known for being a prosperity preacher at his Atlanta-area World Changers Church International, is seeking “200,000 people committed to sow $300 or more (to) help achieve our goal to purchase the G650 airplane.”
The figures were presented Friday [JAC: yesterday!] in a nearly six-minute video on the Creflo Dollar Ministries website (the video was not viewable Friday night) and total more than $60 million needed to buy the Gulfstream G650, which goes for a reported $65 million.
The project isn’t limited to member donations, as the site states that “we are asking members, partners and supporters of this ministry to assist us in acquiring a Gulfstream G650.”
The request goes on to detail that the luxury jet will transport Pastors Creflo and Taffi Dollar and member of the Dollars’ church around the globe to help them spread the gospel.
Here’s a screenshot from the now-defunct fundraising page on which he asked for jet dollars:
His wife’s name, “Taffi Dollar,” always cracks me up. But wait: there’s more!
On the video, the pastor chronicles incidents involving his current jet, which has been in service for more than three decades: The right engine went out en route to Australia, but the plane was able to safely land at its destination thanks to the experience of the pilot and crew. During another trip, mechanical failure caused the jet to skid off a runway in London while Taffi Dollar and their three daughters were aboard.
Dollar attributed his family’s safe arrival to “a grace working on that airplane, that brought my girls back home to me, you understand what I am saying?” he said from the pulpit to thunderous applause.
Dollar said that after those incidents, he “knew that it was time to begin to believe God for a new airplane.”
The Gulfstream G650 would comfortably allow the ministry make its way around the world. It seats up to 14 passengers with berthing for six, according to gulfstream.com. The jet comes with two Rolls-Royce engines, high-speed Internet and two multichannel satellites and allows for a 2½-hour commute from New York to Los Angeles.
“The G650 is the biggest, fastest, most luxurious, longest range and most technologically advanced jet — by far,” according to the site.
In soliciting the donations, Dollar’s site states, “We need your help to continue reaching a lost and dying world for the Lord Jesus Christ. Your love gift of any amount will be greatly appreciated.”
Apparently this request was too much even for his followers, and Dollar was widely ridiculed for this campaign. According a a site called “Romance Meets Life,” Dollar has canceled his public fundraising efforts, although the site notes that the campaign may be continuing surreptitiously on Dollar’s “donation page.” And indeed it has. Looking at that site, I found that you can still donate for “Project G65o,” which is the big jet:
The Daily Beast reports, with a soupçon of humor:
Then, on Friday afternoon, the post was removed. Dollar wouldn’t say why. Repeated calls to his assistant were met first with a claim that a PR person for Dollar would call me back to provide answers, and then with voicemail. A request to interview Dollar received a similar response.
Dollar’s Bronx church was closed. Multiple attempts to reach Dollar through prayer proved unsuccessful.
This would all be funny, and was to the several readers who sent me this link—except when you recall Dollar has already bilked his flock for millions of dollars. Giving away 10% of your income is no small matter when you don’t have much to give. And what do the poor people who believe in the Prosperity Gospel get for their tithing and prayers? Bupkes! It’s like all those poor people who buy lottery tickets in hope of hitting it big, but in the case of Creflo Dollar there’s no prize. The man is a charlatan, using the promise of God to enrich himself, and there’s nothing to be done about it.
“And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”—Matthew 19:24
I thought I saw some sort of exposé on this fellow a few years ago on TV. I can’t recall who did it, but it was not flattering as it detailed his riches and his expensive tastes in clothing and other things. He was, unsurprisingly, unremorseful about his acquired riches, saying he deserved them for his hard work….classic sociopath/narcissist.
Folks, if you haven’t yet met a sociopath/narcissist (and where have you been? They are everywhere!) this is what an extreme one looks like.
If you haven’t yet met a narcissist then it’s also pretty safe to say you haven’t met a religious authority.
Kanye West is another one, according to Australian writer and social critic, Anne Manne, in her book on narcissism.
In at least two easily-accessed Youtube videos, she quotes West to the effect that he used to state on his airport customs forms “creative genius” for “occupation,” but that he stopped doing that because it was “too long to write,” and sometimes he misspelled “genius.”
But, to be ecumenical, mention must surely be made of those avatars of narcissism, Donald Trump and Gordon Ramsey.
‘she quotes West to the effect that he used to state on his airport customs forms “creative genius” for “occupation,” but that he stopped doing that because it was “too long to write,” and sometimes he misspelled “genius.”
And it hasn’t occurred to you that Kanye West might have a sense of humour and be making a self-deprecating joke?
I don’t deny that that could be. I’ll put it on my To Do List to find out. Unless you yourself happen to know one way or the other without a doubt.
Was he being similarly self-deprecating when he interrupted Taylor Swift?
When? Where? I don’t know these people.
It just seemed to me that reported statement could have been made by any number of writers or performers with a sense of irony. I think it more likely to have been a joke because to make it seriously anyone would have to be quite exceptionally obtuse.
Oh, Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz….
good one
What? His friends all drive Porsches, he should make amends… (for blatent theft, among other things).
What an apply-named charlatan and user!! People like this disgust me so thoroughly that I have trouble NOT shifting into “grunt-speak” to discuss them…
They kind of operate below the media’s radar, don’t they? They don’t seem to advertise on mainstream TV channels or do interviews in Hello! or the American equivalent, and so they go on bilking people from the poorest, least educated stratum and no-one outside of the true believers really seems to notice because it’s such a relatively insular, self-contained enterprise. From the article it seems the only reason this came to light is because his fans thought this was a step too far. Without their disgust we probably wouldn’t have heard anything.
It’s a grubby semi-underworld of woo-peddling hucksters and the less attention they draw from a potentially sceptical mainstream media the better. That might be part of why people like him get away with stuff like this on such a regular basis – he’s not stupid enough to go on Letterman or something like that, so he knows that a certain level of fame is undesirable. What a tosspot. I don’t understand how he’s not ashamed.
I think it also slides under the radar because the general public thinks of poor black believers as Little People who merge their identity with a strong yet childlike faith. It gives them the inspiration and hope they so desperately need — and with no cost to the general public!
So the usual desire to protect the vulnerable from hucksters and frauds goes out the window not just because of religious privilege, but out of a misguided (and comfortable) sense that the true way of protecting these people is to let them alone to believe in what they need to believe in.
“I don’t understand how he’s not ashamed.”
Being ashamed is for poor folk dontcha know.
Sastra: nailed it.
Hitchens was very right when he spoke about the patronising belief that they do so need their religion.
Not just that – if anyone in authority tries to squish this maggot, he and his more deluded supporters will scream ‘religious persecution’ and ‘racism’ and doubtless a fair number of misguided Xtian organisations and maybe even some equal-rights ones will be sucked into coming to his defence.
So which authority is going to want to buy trouble?
I imagine all this is tax free!
I am currently welcoming donations to my ‘buy Saul an OLED TV, a new kitchen and this week’s groceries’ campaign. All financial contributions are welcome, and I really will say I believe in any old bollocks if it’ll get people donating.
I’ll be glad to contribute to your Broom, Rake, and Toilet Bowl Brush fund. 😉
Thanks. Every little helps!
“The jet comes with two Rolls-Royce engines, high-speed Internet and two multichannel satellites and allows for a 2½-hour commute from New York to Los Angeles.”
The math is wrong. The G650 has a top speed of Mach .92 (706 mph), with a cruise speed of .85 (658 mph).
It’s 2448 miles from NY to LA. Even leaving aside factors like acceleration and deceleration (let alone waiting for landing clearance), a 2 1/2 hour flight from NY to LA is as fanciful as Dollar’s ministry.
Thanks for doing the math. I was shocked when I read that flight time.
As an airplane geek I’m glad you brought this up.
But the speed of sound varies greatly depending on altitude.
So the G650’s crusing speed of .85 Mach would be about 580 miles per hour at 40,000 feet. Which is slightly faster than most commercial aircraft travel.
True, of course. But the realistic flight level computation would make the flight even longer, so I didn’t see the need to introduce that complexity. Not to mention the fact that no viable flight path from NY to LA would be the “as the crow flies” 2448 miles.
It’s not terribly complex, just more accurate.
No civilian aircraft flies faster than 700 mph, especially at low altitude where the air is too dense.
It’s a 2½-hour flight from NY to LA, but it’s a 6½-hour flight from LA to NY.
…or maybe that’s a 8½-hour flight from LA to NY.
Ah. Time zones. That could be the answer.
Or maybe the laws of physics don’t apply with the same rigour to the very wealthy.
Prosperity Gospel is a strange blend of Bible-believing Christianity and The Secret. “Name it, claim it” blends seamlessly into “ask and it shall be given.”
Creflo Dollar has been on Sunday morning TV in NZ for years. I watched once i.e. on one occasion, when I was still a Christian. He was talking to people about doing everything right in their lives and giving 10% to the Church, but who weren’t seeing a return on their investment. He explained what the problem was – he asked people to think about whether they were really giving 10%. e.g. “Are you giving 10% before tax or after tax? If it’s after tax, there’s where your problem is! God knows you’re not tithing properly!” Etc. I was (still am) horrified. Many of those listening looked so uncomfortable. You could see they were worrying about how they could afford to give more. It was sickening to watch.
I wonder if Mitt Romney’s tithe is before or after tax. In either case he seems to have had no such problems, what with an estimated net worth of $190-250M.
It bugged me when there was so much praise of his charity giving during the election, given that the vast majority was compulsory giving to a weird church that believes we come from a planet near a star called Kolob, golden plates, lies about translating hieroglyphs etc, and when you’re that rich you don’t miss the donations.
I love opposite the International Church of Winners in Dartford, UK
The main pastor of that church is worry an estimate $94 million dollars! Thousands turn up every week to hear him and it makes the area a no go as the double decker buses and cars block the roads.
If the money these people were giving were going to charities then I could understand but they’re just lining these scam artists pockets
I hope you love publicly, vigorously and with much noise just as the congregation is arriving.
Or was that just a misprint? 😉
Haha!
I finally comment on a post and autocorrect gets the better of me (twice)!
I live opposite…
The main pastor of that church is worth…
And as I write now thousands are streaming out of the church and more are turning up for the second Sunday service.
I wonder how much profit they’ll make today!
Let him fly coach.
Yeah – this is a situation where one is tempted to say, “What would Jesus do?” Although Jesus is white, so he’d probably get an upgrade.
Jesus is from the Middle East. He’s probably on the no fly list.
Good correction, monster!
How do you know for sure he was white ??
I think you should research that.
As my mother always said (and probably still does), “a fool and his money are easily parted”.
If you didn’t give everything to Saul at #5 I’m open for residual donations!
Lots of luck – there is a chronic shortage of fools on this site.
“Lots of luck – there is a chronic shortage of fools on this site.”
Perhaps only because – if like me – they learned some lessons at a more callow, naïve, younger age.
“Experience seems to cost me more than I should have to pay, but I can’t seem to get it for any less.”
– anonymous minister
General Choi Hong Hi (1918-2002), widely regarded as the founder of Taekwon-Do, was fond of saying:
“Pain is the best instructor, but no one wants to go to his class.”
I would not presume to say if this was original with him.
Is Prosperity Gospel unique to America? I bet it is. Why are we so good at creating these kind of people? We’re also the best at creating cults. I live in a strange country, I must admit.
Max Weber asked the rhetorical question, “Is God a capitalist?”
Has any Amuricun capitalist presumed to answer in the affirmative?
“What started as a message in Jerusalem became a philosophy in Greece, an institution in Rome, a culture in Europe, and an enterprise in America”.
Forgot where I heard that.
We actually have in Israel a Jewish version, “rabbis” (typically, they are not qualified as rabbis) who live lavishly at the expense of their poor followers.
Did Gore Vidal write this bloke? x
I was thinking more Carl Hiaasen.
Carl H. Would nail it!
“And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”—Matthew 19:24
Some rich people don’t think they’re rich (enough).
Good point…even billionaires need more. hmpf!
If the richest people in the world got together to share out their wealth, there would not be enough to go around….or something to that effect, can’t remember the source and in fairness it’s not universally applicable – although I would think it can be applied to all televangelists
http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2015-01-19/richest-1-will-own-more-all-rest-2016
“The combined wealth of the richest 1 percent will overtake that of the other 99 percent of people next year unless the current trend of rising inequality is checked, Oxfam warned today ahead of the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.
Of the remaining 52 percent of global wealth, almost all (46 percent) is owned by the rest of the richest fifth of the world’s population. The other 80 percent share just 5.5 percent and had an average wealth of $3,851 per adult – that’s 1/700th of the average wealth of the 1 percent.”
I heard an interesting interpretation of the camel parable. The “eye of the needle” is one of the ancient gates to Jerusalem, and it’s just big enough for a grown man to pass through. It would be no small feat to pass a camel through it, but it might be possible – if first it was stripped of all it carried.
It made more sense than somehow extruding a camel to threadlike status.
This is the standard explanation given by guilt-ridden white fundagelicals (you *don’t* want to know how many times I heard it when I was in the church).
If I recall correctly, the gate referred to was actually built in the middle ages, and so could not be part of the interpretation of the parable. But christians don’t really let the supposed teaching of Jesus get in the way of their cushy suburban lifestyles (guilt or no guilt).
Something to do when you’re bored: Go ask your friendly neighborhood fundamentalist how often Jesus criticized homosexuality in the New Testament. Then ask how often he speaks about abortion. And finally, ask how often he talks about the danger of riches.
Here are 10 types of black preachers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTnbCjo7BGg
I’ve seen at least one Youtube video advising church organists on what chords and riffs to play at what points during a preacher’s sermon.
Has seemed more than a bit contrived and non-“spontaneous” to me. Reminds of my grandmother telling me of my grandfather’s aunt turning to someone sitting near her in the pew and saying, “Here, hold my bonnet while I shout.”
Shouldn’t that be ‘Preachers of color’? 😉
can’t finish reading…must go to toilet now………..bbbbbllllaahhhhhhhhhhhh
Jesus loves some primates just a little bit more than others.
Dollar, dollar bills y’all.
Dollar and Taffi should consider going on a different kind of tour and make an honest living like the rest of us schmucks, one cent, one dollar at a time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYXgWAm0zgI
(This next one is just a March break bonus for all the pretty ladies out there. ;))
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS4ywlpZfuo
Whoah:-)
From what I’ve been told, to join Dollar’s church, you have to submit your W-2’s.
I mean, how else are they going to know that you are actually donating 10%?
His web site claims otherwise: http://www.creflodollarministries.org/About/FAQ.aspx
A 10% tithe is precisely what the Catholic Church still asks for to this day. Why is this man more notorious when the Church wreaks their havoc on a global level? Could it be a 2000 year PR campaign enforced through ignorance and sometimes violence? Dollar is a mere microcosm of this.
I think that’s the number for the Mormons too.
Probably something to do with verses like these.
You do this shortly after the Lord savors the sweet smell of burning animals. Somehow that part always gets over looked, guess there’s not much money in animal sacrifice these days.
I have no wish to support the RCC whose clutches I escaped as a young seminarian and it took me many more years to become the ardent atheist and secular humanist I am now, but for the sake of accuracy:
“Catholics are under no obligation to tithe a certain percentage of their income to the Church.”
http://www.catholic.com – Catholic Answers
They do have other obligations to support their church, but no monetary or percentage values are specified.
Oh, don’t get me wrong, I didn’t mean to imply that tithing is a matter of doctrine or dogma. In my opinion though, this is merely a difference without distinction and the typical manifestation of the shell game the Church employs right down to its individual parishes. A quick Google search yields results like this from the Archdiocese of St. Louis::
The whole Q&A has a sentiment that I’d sum up as, “You know the Old Testament prescribes that 10% goes back to God; Jesus did away with that and said give it all, so with the right state of mind and with an open heart (*wink, wink, nudge nudge* <handing a few helpings of guilt&rt;) you’ll soon happily be giving more than 10% back.
This is in line with my experience of family members who have sent their kids to Catholic school and heard the 10% number thrown out there. Then there’s my childhood memories of my parents being unemployed, at one point on the brink of foreclosure, but still diligently donating to the Church every week…I was married in the Catholic Church and still get envelopes mailed to me to donate to the weekly collection plate (complete with income surveys and reminders to give back to the Lord). It’s tempting to tell them to stop wasting money mailing these to me, but alas I find they make good kindling to get my fire pit going outside. 🙂
P.S. Your back story sounds quite intriguing. Did you make it all the way through seminary?
Failure to type correctly, that should be: “<handing out a few helpings of guilt>)”
I think the answer is that Creflo A. Dollar is much more conspicuously single-minded and insistent on getting his money (indeed it seems to be almost his sole preoccupation) – than the average Catholic diocese.
Maybe the conspicuousness is due to a couple millennia less experience in refining the pitch and lack of global hierarchical structure completely impervious to meaningful outside audit?
The Church will ever be transparent enough with its finances for us to have any idea what they collect. However, I’d be surprised if it’s not at least similar on a per parishioner basis to what Dollar manages to rake in for himself.
You could well be right that the RCC hides it better – I wouldn’t have a clue. I would be surprised if the RCC got as much per parishioner as Mr Dollar, simply because (as I said) Mr Dollar seems to do nothing else. But of course the RCC has a LOT more parishioners.
Cos Jesus, he knows me, and he knows I’m right…
(Now I believe that the Lord came to me
And he said, “Get me eighteen million dollars by the weekend,
So that I may build that theme park – for the Lord,
So that I may put gasoline into all of my limousines…
… for the Lord,”
Would I lie to you?)
If this turkey and Pat Robertson were on his jet and it crashed into the Liberty University chapel, I might start believing in miracles.
His very name screams “con man”, doesn’t it? Even if it’s his real one, one might have thought that he should change it before soliciting money.
But maybe it’s a good pre-screening test – like people who are stupid enough to reply to Nigerian emails, anyone credulous enough to listen to someone named ‘Creflo A. Dollar’ is probably a good mark.
I don’t understand – if god saved him from disaster after prior mechanical mishaps:
1. Why didn’t god just not allow them to happen in the first place?
2. Why he doesn’t have faith that god won’t allow them to happen in the future?
After all, if it’s god’s plan that he should die in a plane crash, then it’ll happen whatever plane he’s flying in surely?
Almost as if he doesn’t actually believe the things he’s saying. But that can’t be right – can it?