Jesus wants you to have a $23,000 toilet

[babylonsister]

Jesus wants you to have a $23,000 toilet
Posted November 17th, 2007 at 9:00 am


Guest Post by Morbo

I’ve never had much use for Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), but I have to give the man some credit: He certainly has shaken things up with these letters to TV ministries.

In case you missed it, Grassley has sent letters to six mega-ministries, asking some pointed questions about their finances. One of his targets is Benny Hinn, perhaps the most transparently fraudulent evangelical TV huckster out there.

Hinn lives in a $10 million estate (considered a “parsonage”), owns a fleet of cars and a private jet. He travels all over the world claiming to heal people of various afflictions. Over the years, numerous news media outlets have tried to take Hinn down. They’ve pointed out his opulent lifestyle. They’ve tracked down people Hinn claims to have healed and found some of them unhealed and others dead.

To no avail. Hinn still packs them in. Let him pack them in — but none of his snake-oil empire should be tax exempt.

Whoever advised Grassley on this matter did some homework. The letters to the ministries are pointed and raise specific issues. His letter to Joyce Meyer Ministries, for example, asks for a “detailed accounting of all expense account items for Joyce and David Meyer for years 2004 to present, including, but not limited to, clothing expenses and cosmetic surgery for years 2002 to present.”

This is rich. I’d like to hear Meyer explain why a facelift is a legitimate ministry expense. Maybe she’ll say she just wants to look sharp when Jesus comes back.

Meyer is also asked to explain her purchase of a $23,000 “commode with marble top.”

more...

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13625.html#more-13625

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. HOLY Shit!!

[SharonAnn]

6. In this sense, "commode" refers to "a low chest of drawers on stubby legs"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commode

A Commode is any of several pieces of furniture.

The English word commode comes from French roots meaning "convenient" or "suitable".

Originally, in furniture it meant a cabinet, with one or more doors, that served as a washstand with a washbasin and water pitcher, and that also offered an enclosed area below for storing a chamberpot. Convenience cabinets called commodes often furnished middle-class bedrooms before the days of indoor plumbing.

In modern English use, the term has become a euphemism meaning toilet, usually a lavatory appliance made of porcelain, or a metal chair with a built-in chamber pot often used in nursing homes.

In contemporary French, however, la commode, like the German die Kommode, means a low chest of drawers on stubby legs. This current meaning of the French word applies especially to chests in the French style.

See also: Nightstand

[monmouth]

2. In this case it surely would be.....

[Solly Mack]

3. for all my solid gold shit

Sure - call it corn nuggets.I know it's really gold. Jesus told me.

[Angela Shelley]

4. Excuse me, but it´s not the clever minister

who we should be talking about, it´s the people who financed his house, cars and jet.

As long as large numbers of Americans are unwilling to "think for themselves", there will always be well-financed evangelists raking in the cash.

[jgraz]

5. To do for today: Start Christian Ministry

Dayum.

[moobu2]

7. Commode = a smallish decorated cabinet

not a bathroom toilet. Like so



It's for sale for $42,885

[babylonsister]

11. Maybe they didn't actually see the commode:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/commode

com·mode
n.

1. A low cabinet or chest of drawers, often elaborately decorated and usually standing on legs or short feet.
2.
1. A movable stand or cupboard containing a washbowl.
2. A chair enclosing a chamber pot.
3. A toilet.
3. A woman's ornate headdress, fashionable around 1700.

[moobu2]

12. Well, maybe it was a toilet

Tammy Faye Bakker had a gold one I think (or was it a gold toilet seat? I cant remember).

[Turbineguy]

8. My Daughter's school choir

once sang in a fundie chruch nearby. We thought it was just them singing. Turned out to be a full fledged service. We sat through it for a while. Our Daughter came over and sat with us indicating that her part was over. We got up to leave as what the Minister was saying was jibberish. It was then I noticed that the doors were closed and guarded by a couple of stout looking characters in dark suits. As we approached one to get though the door he stood there blocking our path obviously ignoring us. Evidently this sort of intimidation works most of the time. After I explained to him that we were leaving he reluctantly moved. I guess if you leave you forfeit your place in heaven or something.

The church was later taken over by a guy who shuttles between this and another church in a helicopter.

People go out and work and give these people their money. I don't understand. Why do people go to these places. You'd think there's enough stupid stuff on TV to keep them occupied.

[moobu2]

10. In most cases people who send these crooks money

Are gravely ill and desperate, disabled or are elderly and scared and think that these creeps can help them. My sister got breast cancer years ago and sent one of these creeps thousands of dollars. She was scared and had just had a baby and didn’t want to die. Her husband finally had to have her name removed from checking accounts and so forth because she almost bankrupted the family. They'll take peoples last dime. I hate these people!!

[JBoy]

9. Those are great letters

Especially where they are requested to "explain the tax exempt purpose" of some of those outrageous items.