What has Christianity really become? Pastors robbing the
poor to live in affluence, to buy jets? This is the story of Pastor
Creflo
Dollar based in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Atlanta
“prosperity gospel” minister and megachurch pastor Creflo Dollar is
attempting to crowd fund himself a $65 million Gulfstream G650 private
jet.
Kirsten West Savali at The Root reported Friday morning that
Dollar — who was arrested for assaulting his then-15-year-old daughter
in 2012 — was flying in his old private jet when its engine lost power,
prompting him to scrap it for a newer, top-of-the-line model.
Dollar is the pastor of World Changers Church, International, a
sprawling megachurch complex located in the hard-bitten south Atlanta
suburb College Park. The pastor and his family, however, live in a $2.5
million mansion in tony Sandy Springs.
Dollar — whose estimated
worth is somewhere around $27 million — is one of the top proponents of
so-called “prosperity gospel,” which preaches that God rewards the
righteous in this life with affluence, which His chosen children have an
obligation to flaunt as a show of how richly the Lord has blessed them.
On Dollar’s website, he said, “We are asking members, partners, and
supporters of this ministry to assist in the undertaking of an
initiative called Project G650. The mission of Project G650 is to
acquire a Gulfstream G650 airplane so that Pastors Creflo and Taffi and
World Changers Church International can continue to blanket the globe
with the Gospel of grace. We are believing for 200,000 people to give
contributions of 300 US dollars or more to turn this dream into a
reality—and allow us to retire the aircraft that served us well for many
years.”
The Root’s Savali pointed out that Dollar’s reported $27
million net worth is “200 times more than the $29,640 average annual
income in College Park, Georgia where he holds court.”
“Dollar
would rather press people living below the federal poverty line—people
with no jobs, no insurance, no healthcare, and, in some cases, no
homes—into funding his luxurious travel?” she wrote.
She
concluded, “It’s just pathetic that during a time of such unrest and
uprising in black America — when food safety is non-existent, public
education is dismal and the bodies of our children are piling up while
politicians wave for the cameras — Dollar is busy scheming. Instead of
putting millions into the community, he’s pulling millions out of it
just so he can fly above it all and tell his congregation to say ‘praise
the Lord’ while he does. And there is nothing holy about that.”
Source:PM News
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