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Despite the libellous headline - a Baptist pastor would never steal, it is contrary to the Commandments, but it is almost a requirement of the job that Catlick priests steal - the following is a guide we all need to read.
One of the dirty secrets of Christianity is that there are numerous crooked pastors, priests and church financial secretaries embezzling funds. The International Bulletin of Missionary Research projected that $37 billion would be stolen by Christian religious leaders in 2013 and this fraud will reach $60 billion annually by 2025.
Here are four possible signs that money is being embezzled by religious leaders.
1. The pastor or priest lives an extravagant lifestyle.
2. The church leader regularly fails to turn in receipts when using the church or ministry credit card.
3. The church sends you a receipt for donations and the amount listed doesn't match your own records of what you have given. (Anonymously given cash offerings will not be tracked.)
4. The church suddenly starts showing large unexplained debts.
I've compiled this list of warning signs from numerous church fraud cases and future articles will describe how these thefts took place and how religious leaders attempted to cover up their crimes
Churches have done very little to confront the problem of insider theft unlike large retail businesses. Companies like Office Depot and Staples have theft prevention professionals that advise store managers on theft issues and conduct internal investigations when employees are suspected of theft of merchandise.
Denominations could hire investigators to assist churches with fraud problems and whisteblowers would need to be protected for revealing fraud.
Occasionally proactive church members will start questioning church leadership and uncover this fraud.
In 2008 the Chicago Tribune reported that Catholic priest Rev. Steven Patte was caught stealing money from the offering plate:
A Chicago police detective who belonged to the parish's finance committee grew suspicious about accounting discrepancies and placed a marked $100 bill in the collection plate, sources familiar with the case said.
According to Chicago Breaking News, Patte plead guilty to stealing more than $12,000 from his church. Chicago Breaking News also noted, "Following his 2006 reassignment to St. Emily's Parish in Mt. Prospect, officials at St. Ita's discovered that their budget surplus had disappeared and the church was $400,000 in debt."
Here are four possible signs that money is being embezzled by religious leaders.
1. The pastor or priest lives an extravagant lifestyle.
2. The church leader regularly fails to turn in receipts when using the church or ministry credit card.
3. The church sends you a receipt for donations and the amount listed doesn't match your own records of what you have given. (Anonymously given cash offerings will not be tracked.)
4. The church suddenly starts showing large unexplained debts.
I've compiled this list of warning signs from numerous church fraud cases and future articles will describe how these thefts took place and how religious leaders attempted to cover up their crimes
Churches have done very little to confront the problem of insider theft unlike large retail businesses. Companies like Office Depot and Staples have theft prevention professionals that advise store managers on theft issues and conduct internal investigations when employees are suspected of theft of merchandise.
Denominations could hire investigators to assist churches with fraud problems and whisteblowers would need to be protected for revealing fraud.
Occasionally proactive church members will start questioning church leadership and uncover this fraud.
In 2008 the Chicago Tribune reported that Catholic priest Rev. Steven Patte was caught stealing money from the offering plate:
A Chicago police detective who belonged to the parish's finance committee grew suspicious about accounting discrepancies and placed a marked $100 bill in the collection plate, sources familiar with the case said.
According to Chicago Breaking News, Patte plead guilty to stealing more than $12,000 from his church. Chicago Breaking News also noted, "Following his 2006 reassignment to St. Emily's Parish in Mt. Prospect, officials at St. Ita's discovered that their budget surplus had disappeared and the church was $400,000 in debt."
1. The pastor or priest lives an extravagant lifestyle. Although he has eight cars (including a rather nice Ferrari) and a private jet, Pastor Zeke has assured us that the cars are there to suit the occasion and to have maximum impact on his arrival at any place in the world to save the souls of the lost. "Face it" he said, "Nobody's going to believe you if you turn up off a bus or train." and I think we can all go with this. We on the Committee have been pretty rigorous. When Pastor Zeke took us all to Hawaii and presented us with $50,000 bonuses, it did not stop us asking hard questions! I myself asked, "How can Landover afford this?" and was completely reassured by Pastor Zeke's reply, "Don't worry about that Bathfire, here's a gold Rolex for you. It's a personal gift from the fortune left to me by my father."
2. The church leader regularly fails to turn in receipts when using the church or ministry credit card. I thought about this for a moment and realized that when I spend on my Church Credit Card, I do not always obtain a receipt. The point here is I act in good faith and why should I cheat? Even being questioned about this implies that someone does not trust me! That is simply outrageous and I will not have it!
3. The church sends you a receipt for donations and the amount listed doesn't match your own records of what you have given. (Anonymously given cash offerings will not be tracked.) I'm afraid that this is yet another "Counsel of Perfection". With such a large congregation, there is bound to be people with the same or similar name. I don't think this a very good pointer to fraud. And as for "Anonymously given cash offerings will not be tracked."!! How's that going to work?
4. The church suddenly starts showing large unexplained debts. This is very unlikely to happen with Landover. We have a very simple system that ensures value for money and an almost miserly aspect to Church spending. Put in layman's terms, The Church invests your tithes via Landover (Cayman Islands) Inc. and then this is used to buy annuities through Landover Services (Cayman Islands) Inc. which is a subsidiary of a Holding company in Liechtenstein (ZFlint Holdings S.A.) which is itself controlled by The BTB Trust, whose trustees are clearly marked as "Mr Z Flint and Miss Daisy Mae Johnson. However, they have little real control, as the board of Landover (Taiwan) Ltd., itself controlled by Landover Services (Cayman Islands) Inc. is the power behind all decisions. For security reasons the board of Landover Services (Cayman Islands) Inc. is undisclosed.
And what could be more transparent that that?
Landover does not stop there! No! I am authorized to tell you that we place spies in congregations of other so-called 'faiths'; only last week we found that Bushey Mound Lutheran church was working the old "We've got a leaking roof, give us your money" scam. Watch this space to learn more! And don't forget! Give generously, give till it hurts and be reassured that Landover is the only hurch giving a cast-iron guarantee on Salvation! If you don't get into heaven, you get all your tithes back!
PS
A word of warning! Anyone found hiring "Private Detectives" who have not been fully approved by Pastor Zeke himself will be shunned with severe consequence for their immortal soul and well-being!
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