(Photo: Hal Lindsey’s TV program appearing on Daystar)

Hal Lindsey, one of the wealthiest non-profit ministry executives in America, has died at 95 years of age.

Lindsey co-authored the bestselling end-times Bible prophecy book The Late Great Planet Earth with Carole C. Carlson and hosted a TV program airing on Daystar Television Network, costing $381,000 in 2023, and other networks over the years.

Lindsey believed the re-establishment of Israel as a nation in 1948 was a fulfillment of Bible prophecy and the generation alive in 1948 would see a pre-tribulation rapture, the tribulation and Jesus’ return.

From 2013 to 2023, Hal and his wife JoLynne Lindsey received $18.5 million of compensation from Hal Lindsey Website Ministries. During those eleven years, the ministry spent only $1,105,360 in charitable assistance to groups and individuals.

(Spreadsheet: Total revenue and charitable spending of Hal Lindsey Website Ministries and compensation for Hal and JoLynne Lindsey compiled from Form 990s.)

Continue reading “Hal Lindsey’s Secret Legacy: Obtaining Extravagant Wealth from Non-Profit Organization”

 

The IRS recently revoked the tax-exempt status of Saved in America Incorporated, a non-profit organization in California, with the stated purpose of fighting human tracking.

The announcement appeared in the November 18, 2024, issue of the IRS Bulletin, a weekly publication providing important tax updates for accountants and taxpayers.

(Photo: The revocation for Saved in America Incorporated covers financial transactions for six years.)

The above screenshot features all the public information that is available from the IRS regarding this revocation of tax-exempt status. The IRS does not reveal what illegal activity it uncovered during an audit or investigation.

The IRS process for granting tax-exemptions is transparent, but the process for revoking tax-exemptions is cloaked in secrecy.

Continue reading “Failure of Government Oversight: Privacy Laws Protect Corrupt Non-Profit Executives, Not Donors”

(Screenshot: Larry Huch appearing on October 19, 2024, Daystar telethon broadcast.)

Previous Investigations

Trinity Foundation has investigated Daystar Television Network, America’s second largest religious TV network, for more than a decade, and collaborated with NPR and Inside Edition for exposés of the network’s spending and use of a private jet.

Recently, another Christian media outlet, The Roys Report, has begun to thoroughly investigate Daystar. Journalist Julie Roys interviewed Jonathan Lamb, the son of Daystar’s founders Marcus (who died in 2021) and Joni Lamb, and Jonathan’s wife Suzy Lamb for stories about allegations of sexual abuse.

A list of related articles follows the end of this article.

2024 Fall Heart for the World Telethon

Less than three weeks after Hurricane Helene slammed the Florida coast, producing record flooding and destroying communities as far inland as North Carolina and just a couple of days after Hurricane Milton struck Florida, Daystar Television Network hosted its annual fall Heart for the World telethon.

However, none of the millions of dollars raised from Daystar’s telethon will help hurricane victims. Instead, Daystar president Joni Lamb promised on TV that all money given or pledged during the telethon will go to Israel.

Daystar was one of the first Christian ministries to respond with financial support for Israeli troops and citizens following the October 2023 Hamas terrorist attack. Daystar’s fall Heart for the World telethon takes place during Sukkot, the annual Feast of Tabernacles.

Is it Legal for American Non-Profits to Purchase Military Supplies for Foreign Soldiers?

Since October 2023, Daystar’s telethons have raised money to purchase body armor and night goggles for the Israeli military as well as bomb shelters for Jewish civilians.

(Screenshot: June 15, 2024, re-broadcast of March 3, 2024, episode of Heart for the World telethon.)

The IRS recognizes donations to foreign militaries as a charitable activity so long as the recipient is not involved in terrorism or in wars which the United States opposes.

After 9/11, President George Bush issued Executive Order 13224 and Congress passed the USA Patriot Act to prosecute Americans providing support to individuals and organizations involved in terrorism.

The Treasury Department maintains the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (usually referred to as the SDN List), an official list of individuals, organizations and government agencies which Americans are forbidden from donating to or doing business with.

While Hamas and the Israeli government have both killed innocent civilians, only Hamas is listed on the SDN List.

Because none of Daystar’s Israeli partners are on the SDN List, these donations appear to be legal.

Exaggerated Charity?

In 2014, National Public Radio (NPR) investigated Daystar with assistance from Trinity Foundation’s lead investigator Pete Evans.

Journalists reviewed financial data obtained from the unsealing of court documents and questioned if Daystar’s then-president Marcus Lamb was exaggerating the amount of charitable aid the ministry was providing.

NPR’s report featured a 2009 quote from Marcus Lamb: “In the last five years, Daystar has written checks of donations to others, to ministries, to churches, to missions, to hurricane relief, to tsunami relief, to hospitals, etc., to the tune of $30 million cash!”

According to NPR reporter John Burnett, “NPR analyzed six years of Daystar balance sheets. They show the network gave away $9.7 million dollars in direct grants to outside recipients. Not $30 million. That works out to charitable giving of about 5 percent of donor revenue.”

Daystar responded to NPR that “international mission work” included satellite transmission expenses.

Financial Transparency

Word of God Fellowship, the parent organization of Daystar Television Network, is not a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, does not have an independent board of directors and does not provide to donors a Form 990 or audited financial statement disclosing fundraising and management expenses.

Word of God Fellowship avoids the Form 990 filing requirement by claiming church status. Meanwhile, secular non-profits have higher standards to meet.

The Association of Fundraising Professionals Code of Ethical Standards is 25 items long and requires its members to “ensure proper stewardship of all revenue sources, including timely reports on the use and management of such funds.”

For comparison, the National Religious Broadcasters Code of Ethics is only six items long and does not address the prosperity gospel, fundraising or financial transparency.

However, Daystar is not required to meet these six requirements because it is not an NRB member organization. Daystar avoids being a member of organizations that would subject it to oversight.

Televangelist Perry Stone served as one of Daystar’s special guest hosts during the Heart for the World 2024 telethon. On October 13^th, the first day of the telethon, Perry Stone flew to Fort Worth, near Daystar’s production studio, on a Super King Air owned by his ministry Voice of Evangelism. The twin turboprop aircraft travels slower and cheaper than a jet.

(Screenshot: Trinity Foundation’s Pastor Planes project uses the website ADSB Exchange to track the aircraft by its tail number N942CE.)

While Daystar claims all money raised by the telethon will be spent on charity in Israel, it does not disclose if the network paid the guest hosts a speaking honorarium or paid for travel expenses.

To evaluate the effectiveness of a non-profit organization, donors should closely examine Program Services Expenses which are determined by subtracting management expenses and fundraising expenses from total expenses.

Charity Navigator recommends that non-profit organizations spend at least 70% of their total revenue on program services.

Trinity Broadcasting Network, Daystar’s biggest competitor, has provided this critical financial information to its donors through 2022.

(Screenshot: Column B lists 2022 program services expenses for Trinity Christian Center of Santa Ana, better known as Trinity Broadcasting Network.)

Pre-Recorded Telethons

Daystar airs video clips from previous telethons during some of its Heart for the World broadcasts and appears to be in violation of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules requiring disclosure of pre-recorded broadcasts that appear to be live.

The law requires:

“Any taped, filmed or recorded program material in which time is of special significance, or by which an affirmative attempt is made to create the impression that it is occurring simultaneously with the broadcast, shall be announced at the beginning as taped, filmed or recorded. The language of the announcement shall be clear and in terms commonly understood by the public. For television stations, the announcement may be made visually or aurally.”

In 2020, Salem Media Group, owner of the Salem Radio Network, was fined $50,000 for violating the live broadcast rule.

A June 2024 rebroadcast of Heart for the World included a clip of former Daystar TV personality Suzy Lamb. Suzy stopped working for Daystar in 2023.

Toxic Theology

Pastor Larry Huch was one of Daystar’s special guests during the fall 2024 Heart for the World telethon. Huch has received critical attention for rejecting and/or distorting Scripture.

During the telethon, while on a TV program raising funds for Israel, Huch told viewers, “Listen to me. I will never use standing with Israel as a gimmick of raising funds.”

About 15 minutes later, Huch told the TV audience, “Keep blessing the nation of Israel. This is a window that is passing by and once it’s passed by it will never open again for one whole year.”

In 2008, during an appearance on televangelist Paula White’s TV program, Huch claimed, “Jesus is not the only begotten son of God.”

Huch contradicted one of the most well-known Bible verses. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Postscript

Trinity Foundation emailed Daystar the following questions on Friday, October 22^nd but has not received a response by publication time.

• Perry Stone flew to Fort Worth for the fall Heart for the World Does Daystar reimburse travel costs of televangelists appearing on telethons?
• Does Daystar give a speaking honorarium to Perry Stone, Jonathan Cahn, Larry Huch, and others appearing on the telethons?
• Daystar promised that all money given to or pledged during this year’s fall telethon will go to Israel. Why did the network not raise money for victims of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton?

Related Articles

• Marcus Lamb’s Daystar TV Pays Back $3.9M PPP Loan After Inside Edition Investigates Church’s Jet Purchase
• Can A Television Network Be A Church? The IRS Says Yes
• Compensation, Housing Allowances for Marcus and Joni Lamb and Paula White Revealed in Unsealed Documents
• Using the Ministry Jet for Romance? Daystar’s Joni Lamb Visited Fiancé, Now Husband, and New Condo on Ministry Jet
• Time for an IRS Audit? Estimate: Cost of Personal Flights on Ministry Jet Surpasses $1 Million
• Daystar Television Co-Host Doug Weiss Filed Questionable 990, Runs Association for Sex Therapists as a Personal Business
• 40 Church and Ministry Leaders’ Beach Houses, Beach Condos and Waterfront Homes Identified; Their Total Net Worth Is $140 Million

 The Roys Report – Investigative Series

• Exclusive: Former Daystar Executive & Wife Accuse Joni Lamb of Covering Up Daughter’s Sexual Abuse
• Exclusive: Suzy Lamb Says She Was Pressured to Hide Her Sexual Assault
• ‘She’s the Voice of God to You’: Joni Lamb, Jimmy Evans Accused of Bullying, Spiritual Abuse

Photos: 1) Nathan at Fellowship Church, 2)  Nathan with Executive Producer Chris Ayoub at Tarrant County Courthouse hearing

Religion Business documentary producer Nathan Apffel flew in from out of state and presented himself in a Tarrant County courtroom this morning, November 18, 2024, to face a criminal trespass charge.  The crime is considered a Class B misdemeanor and can be penalized with a fine of up to $2,000 or 180 days of jail time.

At the court hearing, Nathan’s dad, Ed Apffel, said, “I’m proud of having to bail my son Nathan out of jail for going to church.  The floodgates have opened for his documentary about the religion business.”

Sunday, October 20^th, Apffel was arrested at Fellowship Church in Grapevine Texas while holding up a large sign asking Pastor Ed Young to reveal the amount of his housing allowance.  Young’s security team included a zealous deputy sheriff who roughed up Mr. Apffel and forced him to get his elbow x-rayed and left bruises on his wrists from the handcuffs.

Fellowship Church security called in the Grapevine police and Apffel was charged with trespassing. “I wasn’t expecting so much brute force,” Apffel told Trinity Foundation investigators following his release from jail (initial article here).   During the incident, Nathan’s cameraman Steve Hickey’s camera was confiscated and damaged by security guards and Hickey received a trespass warning.  Apffel mentioned that the Grapevine police department treated him with kindness and respect, unlike the church’s security team.

Apffel’s hearing appearance today was only a first step of good faith to prevent a warrant being issued for his arrest and he will be required to return at least once more as the case against him proceeds.  His next court hearing is scheduled for December 17^th.

(Screenshot: Brian and Bobbie Houston’s new online church JesusFollowers.TV operates a YouTube channel.)

Following their departures from Hillsong Church and Gateway Church, Brian Houston and James Morris have established new churches using different legal structures to determine how the churches will be governed.

Traditionally, articles of incorporation and bylaws have determined how churches are governed by specifying whether or not church attendees have voting rights or if church governance is reserved for a board of directors or board of elders.

More recently, Brian Houston’s prior church Hillsong popularized the practice of creating churches as limited liability companies, based on legal advice from attorneys.

Church Created as Limited Liability Company

While Houston’s website uses the name JesusFollowers.TV for his new online church, the church’s legal name appears to be Wiljalo, LLC, with church donations being collected by a separate non-profit organization named Calling and Purpose, Inc.

A search of corporation databases and secretary of state websites found no Houston-related organization named Jesus Followers.

An email was sent to Houston requesting clarification, but no response was received.

Continue reading “Church Governance: Brian Houston and James Morris Create New Non-Profit Organizations”

Is Benny Hinn a gangster? Some of his critics may think so.

In 2017, the televangelist’s nephew Costi Hinn wrote an autobiographical article for Christianity Today with scathing criticism of his uncle’s ministry:

“Growing up in the Hinn family empire was like belonging to some hybrid of the royal family and the mafia. Our lifestyle was lavish, our loyalty was enforced, and our version of the gospel was big business.”

Six years earlier, former Benny Hinn Ministries employee Cheryl Brown leveled similar complaints in her autobiographical book Mafia Ministry: A Crying Shame.

Brown described a time when Hinn approached while she was working as a maid cleaning the church parsonage. Hinn “pointed his finger at me and said, ‘I am watching you’ and walked off. His tone was that of a gangster. I thought, wow, he sounded just like the Godfather!”

By working in the Hinn home, Brown observed the relationship of the televangelist and his wife Suzanne. “When I would see him, before he left out of the door to travel out of the country or go out of town, you would see him standing there as if he was waiting on a hug or a blessing from his wife. I never have seen her give him that.”

The initial excitement of working for Benny faded away as Brown became disillusioned by the working conditions. In her book Brown reports, “All of a sudden, about 50 of us from Benny Hinn Ministries were laid off without any explanation.” Is that how a church should treat its employees?

Brown would be re-hired personally by Hinn rather than the church to clean the parsonage. After Hinn failed to pay Brown for a month, she drove to the parsonage, asked to be paid and was fired.

The ministry security team gave Brown a warning on the day she was fired. “‘I better not ever go against Benny Hinn Ministries or that my family and I will be cursed.’ They told me that people who had left from BHM go on and do great things for the Lord, but that there are also ones that have died once they have gone against BHM.”

A black Suburban belonging to the ministry began following Brown whenever she drove. A friend encouraged Brown to call the police to report the stalking, but Brown refused.

Eventually, Brown moved away from California to escape.

Continue reading “Book Review: Comparing Benny Hinn to Mafia”

Filipino televangelist Apollo Quiboloy, another TV preacher masquerading as an angel of light, was finally arrested this week. But first some background.

He called himself the son of God. Unfortunately, thousands and perhaps millions of his followers believed him, even after he managed to get on the FBI’s most wanted list by accusations of having his own sex slaves and carting off loads of undeclared money out of the U.S. on his private jet.

After a two-week standoff, hiding in an underground bunker under the protection of his followers, he was arrested in the Philippines where he has hidden out for the past three years, avoiding extradition to the US under the presumed protection of the Filipino government.  He is currently being held in a heavily guarded detention center at the national police headquarters of the Philippines and the status of his extradition to the U.S. remains unclear.

Of course, these are allegations until proven in a court of law. Here’s some of what we do know. His jet was detained in Honolulu in February 2018 after U.S. customs officials discovered $350,000 of undeclared U.S. cash hidden on his jet destined for the Philippines.  One of Quiboloy’s loyal followers took the fall by telling officials it was her own money.

Also, we know of an “immigration fraud scheme where (top) church officials allegedly coerced some members into sham marriages (82 of them between 1999 and 2019) to keep them in the United States to raise money for the church’s expensive projects and to fund the “lavish lifestyle” of its leader.”  These officials were arrested in Los Angeles in January 2020.

Moreover, almost simultaneously, U.S. “federal authorities raided several churches and homes in Hawaii and on the mainland Wednesday connected to controversial Filipino evangelist Apollo Quiboloy as part of a massive human trafficking and immigration fraud investigation” (Hawaii News Now, January 30, 2020).

The Filipino news media outlet Rappler chronicled Quiboloy related events starting with temporary detainment in Honolulu in 2018, continuing with disturbing and chilling testimony about him to the Filipino Senate, and ending with his arrest this week.

This past March, Rappler began publication “of its investigative series on the multi-million properties linked to Quiboloy and the KOJC in the United States and Canada. Four of the currently owned properties have a total estimated value of US $9.07 million (P503 million.) If the property sold in 2018 is included, the total value would go up to $10.83 million (P601 million).”

Unfortunately, Quiboloy is not alone by a longshot.  Quiboloy’s masquerade is common among televangelists.  By creating a false persona as this son-of-God, his edicts go unchallenged by his followers.

Photo: Apollo Quiboloy screen capture by Medium, an online analysis of Quiboloy’s claim to be the son of God

Name your televangelist!  Some other televangelists we investigate that are masquerading as men of God that deserve to be placed in a hall of shame for various other reasons are Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Gene Ewing, Jesse Duplantis, and a plethora of other religious leaders.

These are guys that are more interested in what God can do for them and by extension, what YOU can do for them with your donor money, rather than living their lives for God and others.

Their self-seeking reveals the plan of God by showing what it’s not. The plan or mystery of God is about self-giving, not self-serving.

Marriage counselor and sex therapist Dr. Doug Weiss has become a host of Daystar Television Network’s TV show MinistryNow after marrying Daystar co-founder Joni Lamb, following the death of her late husband Marcus Lamb.

Weiss founded Healing Time Ministries and the American Association for Sex Addiction Therapy.  Both entities operate in a questionable manner.

An investigation by journalist Jene Nelson revealed that Healing Time Ministries appears to have filed a fraudulent postcard 990 with the IRS.

In 2022, the Carl H and Edyth B Lindner Foundation gave a $400,000 grant to Healing Time Ministries. However, Weiss’ non-profit organization reported to the IRS that its total revenue for 2022 was $50,000 or less.

Where did this money go? It would be appropriate for the IRS Exempt Organizations Division to audit the non-profit organization to find out.

Continue reading “Daystar Television Co-Host Doug Weiss Filed Questionable 990, Runs Association for Sex Therapists as a Personal Business”

ECFA Bamboozled the Senate Finance Committee, Now Leads Non-Accountability/Non-Transparency:

Seventeen years ago, Senators Chuck Grassley (Rep.) and Max Baucus (Dem.) of the Senate Finance Committee had been interested in issuing subpoenas to six different ministries who appeared to be abusing the tax code and using their ministries as their personal piggy banks. The Senators were also interested in closing apparent loopholes in our religious non-profit laws.

Along came the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) to the rescue, or so it seemed…

 Fourteen years ago, Senator Grassley, decided against issuing subpoenas to these ministry’s leaders and informants following complaints of harassment.  Ex-employees received letters threatening litigation if they testified.  Instead, Grassley called upon the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) to form a task force to try and address the glaring problems without any new legislation.  ECFA was created by Billy Graham along with some other folks decades ago to give ministries a platform to willingly (or not) share portions of their financial information without any government interference.

Unbeknownst to Senator Grassley, ECFA’s task force included some lawyers and CPAs working for the very ministries they had investigated and not surprisingly, ECFA recommended only new legislation which would have loosened the tax code, not strengthened it, and thus blew any chance of reigning in the wild abuses we see daily.

ECFA, Supposedly Assisting Transparency, Stopped Being Transparent … The Hidden 990

 Form 990, while far from perfect, tells the public who are the highest paid employees and where the money goes in general.  ECFA has not filed any new forms 990 with the IRS since their 2020 form 990. They still post the 990 only on their own website;   the 990s no longer show  up on websites of the IRS, ProPublica or Guidestar.  What is offensive is that they stopped being transparent with the government and are not setting an example.  At a time when it’s critical for churches to be more transparent, they are doing the opposite.

In 2019, ECFA began to claim it was an association of churches and churches do not have to file form 990s.  There is no evidence on the IRS website that ECFA applied for this reclassification.  They simply declared themselves an association of churches.

Here’s a screenshot of the ECFA’s previous status as a public non-profit organization (see the check mark) prior to 2019:

ECFA, a Toothless “Lion”, more Like a Toothless Old Stray Alley Cat

Oral Roberts, at one time the most prominent televangelist, did not see self-policing by a voluntary accreditation agency like the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) as an adequate substitute to filing (990) reports with the IRS. Asked whether his ministry was a member of ECFA, the Rev. Roberts responded:

“We were invited to be a member of that … but we believed there was no teeth in it; and I think that has been proved by the PTL thing. Ours was so much stronger; our auditing procedures and our filing of the [Form] 990 every year…. We have a corps of auditors…. Anybody in the United States can get a copy of our [Form] 990 report at any time, by writing the IRS; it is available to the media, to everybody in America…. Why wouldn‘t all file a [Form] 990 – why?” (Note that Oral Roberts University became an ECFA member in 2009).

In 1987, then-Congressman Dorgan posed the following question: ―What kind of accountability is now required; what kind of information is required, is information sufficient now, is it available to allow those to whom the appeal for funds is directed to make reasonable decisions about the advisability of contributions? (Federal Tax Rules Applicable to Tax-Exempt Organizations Involving Television Ministries: Hearing Before the Subcomm. on Oversight of the House Comm. on Ways and Means, 100th Cong. 8, 1987)