Prosperity gospel preacher Creflo Dollar asked his followers to buy him a $65 million private jet. The prosperity gospel is simple: the more you give, the more you receive. Since this outrageous request, the finances of the televangelist’s 30,000-member church, World Changers Church International in College Park, Georgia, are under scrutiny.
Dollar and his ministry are associated with the heavily criticized prosperity gospel, one of the most prominent false teachings in modern Christianity. Also known as the “Word of Faith” movement, this belief centers around the idea that health and material prosperity are earned from God. Dollars of sermons are given to a packed 8,500-seat mega-church.
Because this organization is religious, it is exempt from taxation. The ministry has exploded. There are satellite churches in a dozen states and hundreds of thousands of online followers. Creflo Dollar also owns a multi-million dollar mansion and condo. However, in March, he released a new request on his website. Rev. Dollar asked his followers to help buy a top-of-the-line $65 million Gulfstream G-650 jet.
CBS reported that one churchgoer, Mary Jones, wants to help her pastor even though she rides a bus 20 miles every Sunday to Dollar’s church. She said, “We support our pastor. That’s what we’re here for. The work that he’s doing, where the Lord has him traveling, he doesn’t need a cheap airplane. He needs the best.” Eventually, Dollar caved to online pressure and took down the online request after it was criticized.
One former member, Shamora Barnard, said Dollar’s prosperity gospel is all “about him.” Dollar has long been controversial. In 2007, the Senate Finance Committee investigated Dollar and five other televangelists for tax abuse. According to investigators, Dollar was the “least cooperative.” By 2011 the Senate panel was forced to abandon its investigations.
Dollar denied a request for an interview, but a church spokesman sent a statement that read in part, “…all of the ministry’s revenues go to ‘charity‘ and/or ministry, with the exception of the salaries and benefits for some 400 employees ministry-wide.“ The controversial pastor also responded to his critics during a sermon. He also said that he has a private jet, but it’s 30 years old and currently out of service.
Dollar said, “If I want to believe God for a $65 million plane, you cannot stop me. You can’t stop me from dreaming. I’m going to dream until Jesus comes.” Ole Anthony, president of the Trinity Foundation in Texas, a church fundraising watchdog group, said, “In Creflo’s church, there is no accountability. He runs it like a fiefdom.” He also said that Dollar’s wealth is more objectionable because of how he obtains it.
“The chairman of the board of Texas Instruments or AT&T can have a whole fleet of jets, but they’re not begging for money from people and getting a tax write-off in order for them to establish such a lifestyle,” he added. Dollar removed the fundraising campaign from his website, however the pastor still plans to buy a new aircraft with donations. He will not pay taxes on any of it.
Featured image: CDM Social Media, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons